Comparative Yield of Pulmonary Tuberculosis by Different Symptoms among Saharia Tribe of Madhya Pradesh, India

BACKGROUND: Symptom elicitation is a simple and inexpensive screening tool used for population screening in tuberculosis (TB) prevalence surveys. However, the information on the yield of TB cases by symptoms is sparsely available. METHODS: A cross-sectional pulmonary TB (PTB) prevalence survey was conducted. All available eligible individuals were interviewed for symptoms of PTB. Sputum samples were collected and tested for PTB by smear microscopy and culture. RESULTS: Among 2890 individuals tested for PTB, 77% had cough for 2 weeks or more and one-third reported chest pain for 1 month or more. About 31% were having a history of anti-TB treatment. Cough contributed to 82% PTB cases and the history of anti-TB treatment contributed to another 8.4% confirmed cases. Fever recorded lowest yield among the symptoms of PTB. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that fever alone may be ignored from symptomatic elicitation, and history of previous anti-TB treatment should be treated as an important indication for PTB symptomatic elicitation.