Research Article
Fiseha T, Gebru T, Gutema H
Abstract
Background: HIV–tuberculosis (TB) co-infection has emerged as a major public health threat throughout the world. According to the 2013 WHO global TB report, there were 1.1 million (13%) TB/HIV co-infection, among these, the African Region (essentially sub-Saharan Africa) had by far highest TB/HIV co-infection (75%). In 2012, WHO estimated 230,000 new cases of TB in Ethiopia (247 per 100,000); of whom 9819 (10%) were HIV positive. On the other hand treatment outcome for HIV/TB co-infected patients are worse than those TB only patients. The aim of this study was to assess tuberculosis treatment outcome among HIV infected TB patients in southwest Ethiopia. Methods: We analyzed the records of 2150 tuberculosis patients registered at Mizan Aman General Hospital from June 2010 to July 2013. Tuberculosis type and treatment outcome were categorized according to the national tuberculosis control program guideline. Data analysis was performed using the statistical package SPSS for windows, version 20. Results: Of 2150 records reviewed, 397 (18.5%) TB patients (210 male and 187 female) were found to be positive for HIV. Treatment success rates of HIV infected TB patients after completion of dose regimen was 29% (115). Of which, 4% (16) were cured, 24.9% (99) treatment completed, 1.3% (5) defaulted, and 5.5% (22) were died. Conclusion: A high prevalence of HIV infection, and poor treatment success rate was observed among tuberculosis patients. A high proportion of TB patients’ died, which is a serious public health concern that needs to be addressed urgently. Thus, to improve TB treatment outcomes TB/HIV integration as well as improved counseling and health education to reduce treatment interruption is required in our setting.