Description
ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study was designed to determine the prevalence of symptomatic respiratory mycoses and Mycobacterium tuberculosis among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sero-positive patients in Calabar, Nigeria. To correlate the relationship between respiratory mycoses, tuberculosis and cluster of density four (CD4) count levels among these subjects.
Methodology: The study population comprised of 272 known HIV positive and 59 HIV-non reactive subjects with respiratory symptoms, aged 17-70 years who were attending Anti-Retroviral (ARV) clinics and Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) centers. Sputum and blood samples were collected under standard aseptic conditions from all the subjects enrolled in the study for microscopy, culture and serology. Tuberculosis status was determined by microscopy using the Ziehl Neelsen method.
Results: The overall prevalence of pulmonary mycoses recorded in the study was 31.6%. Candida albicans was the most prevalent 32(11.8%) pathogen, while Candida guilliermondii was the least prevalent (0.4%). Tuberculosis (TB) infection rates were higher (17.3%) among the Human Immunodeficiency Virus sero-positive subjects than the Human Immunodeficiency Virus negative subjects (controls) (10.2%). Out of the 272 Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive subjects, 86(31.6%) had mycoses, 47(17.3%) had Tuberculosis while 21(7.7%) amongst them had mixed mycoses and Tuberculosis infections. There was a statistically significant relationship (X2=4.48, p=0.03) between tuberculosis and mycoses among HIV positive subjects.
Conclusion: The importance of respiratory mycoses as an opportunistic infection among HIV patients cannot be over emphasized as subjects suffered more mycoses than tuberculosis infections.
Key words: Mycoses, Respiratory, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis.
