AEGiS-15IAC: Tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS patients: a Malaysian experience.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS patients: a Malaysian experience.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. B10252)

Nissapatorn V, Kuppusamy I, Rohela M, Khairul Anuar A
Department of Parasitology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

BACKGROUND: To compare the characteristics of HIV-positive patients with pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis, and to describe the organ involvement, diagnosis and their treatment.

METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at the National Tuberculosis Centre (NTBC) where 252 HIV-positive patients coexisting with tuberculosis (TB/HIV) were examined.

RESULTS: We found patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) were younger than patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPT), moreover, the higher sex ratio between male to female (10.7:1) was observed in patients with PTB. Otherwise, the characteristics of patients with pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis showed similar distribution for most of the variables. Cough (88%), loss of weight and or appetite (82%), and fever (73%) were the more common presenting symptoms in patients with PTB, whereas, lymphadenopathy (42%) was the most common sign shown in patients with EPT. The majority of patients with pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis had CD4 cell count of less than 200 cells/cumm (range 0-1,179 with median 57 cells/cumm). Lung (89%) and military (55.6%) forms were the most frequent disease location in patients with PTB and EPT respectively. A higher percentage of patients with PTB (42%) completed treatment at least 6 months, but patients with EPT (43%) had successfully treated at a longer duration. Patients with PTB had a higher percentage (87%) in defaulted treatment compared to patients with EPT. No MDR-TB or relapse cases were registered in this study.

CONCLUSION: Tuberculosis is still very common in Malaysia. Appropriate measures are needed in order to curb the incidence of tuberculosis among HIV-positive patients.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Tuberculosis, HIV Seropositivity, Tuberculosis, Pulmonary, Incidence, HIV Infections, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Drug Therapy, Combination, Retrospective Studies, Malaysia, Female, Male, Humans, therapy, drug therapy

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B10252