Sero-prevalence of HIV infection among tuberculosis patients in a rural tuberculosis referral clinic in northern Nigeria

Co-infection with Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis the causative agent of Tuberculosis (TB), has been referred to as the “cursed duet” as a result of the attendant morbidity and mortality due to their synergistic actions. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among Tuberculosis (TB) confirmed patients on admission at a TB referral centre. The association of HIV prevalence with gender and age as risk factors was also determined. Blood samples were collected by venipuncture from 257 TB patients and their HIV status determined. Viral antibody detection was carried out using ELISA kits which detected both HIV-1 and HIV-2 and confirmed by Western blot. Of the 257 patients screened, 44.20% (106) were HIV positive. The prevalence of co-infection was higher among the female (44.82%) than the male (38.30%) patients and highest among those aged 21-40 years old (45.30%). Co-infection was found to be statistically highly associated with gender and age (p<0.05). A very high prevalence of HIV infection was reported in this study among patients that were on admission on the grounds that they had only TB. It is therefore important to screen for HIV among all TB patients.