A Study on Sputum Induction in the Diagnosis of Smear Negative or Sputum -Scarce Presumptive Tuberculosis in HIV Patients in A Tertiary Care Center

Background: HIV infection and TB are two major public health problems in most of the developing countries including India. TB also the most common opportunistic infection seen in HIV infected patients in India 1,2. Tuberculosis is a significant increase in the worldwide incidence of TB which is contributed majorly by HIV infection. AIM: To study the role of Sputum Induction to aid in the diagnosis of Smear Negative or Sputum Scare Presumptive Pulmonary Tuberculosis in adults with HIV. Material & Methods: Prospective hospital based observational study. The present study was conducted in the department of TB & Respiratory medicine, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad. The subjects of the study were selected among the HIV positive with Presumptive Pulmonary Tuberculosis patients who visited the outpatient department or had been admitted in our hospital who agreed for voluntary participation. A total of 50 Presumptive Pulmonary Tuberculosis with HIV co- infection were taken as sample size. Results: The majority of cases (38 %) were in the age group of 31-40 yrs. Mean age of the study group population is 39.76 ± 9.24. The predominant symptom in the present study was loss of appetite. Out of 50 patients 34% (17 patients) were known Diabetic and 10% (5 patients) were known Hypertensive. Most of the patients in my study are smokers (40%). The mean CD4 count in the present study is 182.68. Majority (72%) of patients in the present study did not have previous history of TB. On General examination majority of the patients had Lymphadenopathy. Out of 45 adequate Induced sputum cases, 89% (40 cases) were Negative for Sputum AFB and whereas 11% (5 cases) were Positive for Sputum AFB. Conclusion: Sputum induction is a safe, simple and valuable procedure to obtain adequate sputum samples in suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and can obviate the need for much sophisticated and invasive procedures like bronchoscopy. Sputum induction improves the diagnostic yield for AFB in patients unable to expectorate adequate sputum sample.