HIV co-infection among Pulmonary Tuberculosis infected persons in and around District of Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Despite the implementation of a widely adopted strategy to control tuberculosis (TB), the disease remains a major public health problem particularly in developing country, like India. The objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of HIV co infection among pulmonary tuberculosis patients in and around District of Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 305 sputum samples were collected from clinically suspected pulmonary tuberculosis patients aged between 20–55 yrs, in a Tertiary care hospital and Research Institute Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, for a study period of 1 year. Among the 305 pulmonary TB suspects, a total of 58 (19%) were identified as pulmonary tuberculosis based on culture results. All culture positive samples were subjected for HIV testing. Out of 58 TB patients, 6(10.34%) patients were reactive for HIV infection. Of the 06 serum positive samples, 3 (5.2%) males and 3 (5.2%) females had HIV and TB co infection. We recommend TB/HIV co infected patients should receive focused intervention as HIV seropositive status may influence the treatment outcome.