Isolation and Immunological Detection of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis from HIV and Non-HIV Patients in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Immunological techniques are important tools fortuberculosis epidemiology; although its use is underutilized inNigeria. In this study, we report the epidemiological outlook ofMycobacterium tuberculosis among HIV patients in Benue State,Nigeria.
METHODS: Sputum samples were collected from 425 suspected TBpatients from July 2016 to February 2018 and subjected to acid-fastmicroscopy, GeneXpert MTB/RIF, processed using NALC-NaOHand cultured on Lowenstein-Jensen media. The isolates obtainedwere identified by SD-Bioline® assay.
RESULTS: The prevalence of TB by acid-fast microscopy was35(15.9%). The prevalence of TB by acid-fast bacilli wassignificantly (χ 2 = 8.458; P = 0.003) highest among the 15-34 yearsage group (22.0%) compared with other age groups. TB prevalencewas significantly (χ 2 = 4.751; P = 0.029) higher among patients fromrural areas than those from urban center (23.8% vs 14.1%).GeneXpert assay detected 64(15.1%) TB cases of which patientsfrom rural areas had significantly (χ 2 = 8.104; P = 0.017) higherprevalence of TB than patients from urban areas (23.8% vs 12.9%).The overall rifampicin resistance TB was 3.1%. Also, patients fromrural areas had significantly (χ 2 = 10.625; P = 0.005) higher rifampicin resistance compared with patient from urban areas (8.3%vs 1.3%). Of the 126(29.7%) mycobacterial isolates, 42(33.33%)were identified as MTBC and 84 (66.67%) as NTM by SD-Bioline®assay.
CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is still a major public health problem, withrelatively high prevalence rate of rifampicin resistance among HIVpositive patients. Further studies are needed for early detection andtreatment intervention necessary for infection control.