Seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection among tuberculosis patients at tertiary care combined hospital

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tuberculosis (TB) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have reached epidemic proportions in our country. This study was undertaken to know the seroprevalence of HIV infection among TB patients and to evaluate the various clinical features of TB in seropositive and seronegative patients. This study was undertaken in Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences, Bellary. It was cross-sectional comparative observational study conducted from December 2010 to May 2012. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 consecutive patients diagnosed with TB satisfying inclusion criteria were selected for the study. All patients went through a detailed evaluation along with testing for HIV seroprevalence. Chi-square and Student’s t-tests used to find the significance between two groups. RESULTS: The overall HIV seroprevalence among TB patients was 8%. Seroprevalence was highest in the age group between 31 and 40 years at 29.41% (odds ratio [OR] = 11.11, P = 0.003). It was found that seropositive TB patients were more likely to present with significant weight loss (OR = 19.25, P= 0.000), and have lymphadenopathy OR = 13.24, P = 0.002) and oral candidiasis (OR = 49.44, P = 0.000) on examination. Bilateral chest radiographic involvement (OR = 57.40, P = 0.000) and the disseminated variety of the disease (OR = 29.67, P = 0.001) are also more probable. CONCLUSIONS: Human immunodeficiency virus seroprevalence is quite high among TB patients in Bellary. During the evaluation of TB patients, the possibility of HIV co-infection should be kept in mind, and thus adequate knowledge of the likely clinical features is absolutely necessary.