High burden of HIV among TB patients in India. Indian J Med Res 125(2), February 2007 : 109-194

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Persistently high HIV seroprevalence among adult tuberculosis

patients at a tertiary care centre in Delhi

P. Piramanayagam, Mohammad Tahir, S.K. Sharma, Duncan -

rohrberg+, A. Biswas & M. Vajpayee*

Departments of Medicine & *Microbiology, All India Institute of

Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India & +AIDS Program, Department of

Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.

Indian J Med Res 125(2), February 2007 : 109-194

Background & objectives: This study was designed to estimate HIV

seroprevalence among tuberculosis patients presenting to tertiary

care centre in Delhi.

Methods: Cross-sectional prevalence study among all patients

presenting to the inpatient and outpatient departments of All India

Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and receiving

anti-tuberculosis treatment from May 2003 to April 2005.

Results: Of the 448 patients who presented to the TB clinic during

the study period, 23 (5.1%) were previously tested HIV-positive. An

additional 21 patients (4.6%) refused testing, and 30 (6.7%)

were lost to follow up. Of the remaining 374 patients who consented

to testing, 31 (8.3%) were found to be HIV-positive. Risk factors for

HIV seropositivity included high-risk sexual behaviours (48% in HIV-

TB co-infected vs. 6% in TB infected patients, P<0.001) and history

of blood transfusion (23% vs. 5%; P=0.002).

Interpretation & conclusion: Previous studies from the same hospital

published in 2000 and 2003 reported HIV seroprevalence among TB

patients to be 0.4 and 9.4 per cent respectively. The current

study documents a persistently high seropositivity among TB patients.

These results emphasize the acute need for improved detection and

treatment for HIV among TB patients in northern India.

Key words HIV - HIV-TB co-infection - HIV testing - India -

seroprevalence – tuberculosis

A copy of the study is available on the following url.

http://www.icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2007/february/0208.pdf

Reprint requests:

Dr S.K. Sharma, Chief, Division of Pulmonary,

Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Professor & Head

Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences,

New Delhi 110 029, India

e-mail: sksharma@...