Tuberculosis in HIV patient.

INTRODUCTION Strict monitoring ofanti tuberculosis therapy and antiretroviral therapyis crucial for proper management of TB/HIV co-infected patients. METHODS Between December 2006 and December 2008 a prospective observational study was conducted among 135 TB/HIV co-infected patients visiting antiretroviral therapy in Seti Zonal Hospital, Dhangadi. The diagnosed TB patients were subjected to ATT through directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) and its response was evaluated as per WHO guidelines. RESULTS Among 135 studied subjects, 97 (71.9%) were males and over 119 (88 %) of the patients were in the age group 21 to 50. Of the total TB cases 92 (68.1%) presented pulmonary TB and 37.20% of the Extra-pulmonary Tuberculosis cases were lymph node TB. 72 (53.33%) of them had completed ATT, 11 (8.2%) transfer out and 17 (12.6%) were default. CONCLUSIONS Majority of the patients presented PTB, and lymph node TB was found to be the most common EPTB. Comparatively, high efficacy of ATT was found in HIV patients visiting this resource poor setting.