Tuberculosis - HIV/AIDS associated cases registered in Department of Mures between 1994- 1999
Jimborean, G.; Gabor, M.
Pneumologia 50(2): 79-84
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 2067-2993 PMID: 11584678 Document Number: 243344
Tuberculosis--HIV/AIDS associated cases registered in the Department of Mureş between 1994-1999 are under a low rate--24 patients, meaning 0.69% of all tuberculosis cases. 79% of these were children (7.1% of the tuberculosis in children). There was a dominance of the pulmonary location (22-91.5%). The bacteriologic confirmation among these cases is low: 37.5% vs. 66.5% in HIV negative patients; this imposes the improvement of the diagnosis using methods as bronchoscopy, hemocultures, biopsies and modern bacteriological methods as Bactec and molecular biology in these cases. In 62.5% of the cases the tuberculosis diagnosis was established by combining epidemiological, clinical, radiological and biological data. Skin test was positive in 12.5% of the cases. The clinical and radiological data showed aspects near to the common pulmonary tuberculosis, but with a high rate of the complicated forms in children (66.6%). 14 patients (58%) originated from a positive-contact environment. The standard treatment was well tolerated in 91.6% of the cases; there were 2 side effects to PZM and EMB. The evolution under treatment was generally favorable; there were 2 deaths with AIDS during active tuberculosis. The early diagnosis of HIV infection in high-risk patients and of the latent tuberculous infections would allow the decrease of the rate of this high-gravity associated illness.