Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest diseases known to affect humans, it caused by infection with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MTB). MTB is most commonly transmitted from a patient with infectious pulmonary TB to other person by droplet nuclei. End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients are exposed to a variety of infections, including TB. The standard test for detecting Latent TB infection (LTBI) is tuberculin skin test (TST).
OBJECTIVE:
Determination the prevalence of latent tuberculosis among end stage renal disease patients in hemodialysis unit in Baghdad teaching hospital, and assessing its correlations with various conditions.
METHODS:
A stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 71 patients of ESRD in hemodiaylsis unit in Baghdad teaching hospital. The selected patients were interviewed using a structured pretested questionnaire.
Two units of PPD (0.1mL) had been injected intradermally to the volar surface of forearm to be seen within 48-72 hours. The test was considered positive if (>=10mm induration) developed.
RESULTS:
The study showed the rate of tuberculin reactivity among End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients is 28.57%. About 57.14% of patients were male; mean age of patient was 54.34 ± 15.25 years. The major cause of renal impairment were diabetes mellitus (DM) 52.86%, followed by hypertension 15.71%, duration of dialysis more than 6 months was 46.67% .
History of contact with active tuberculosis patient was 62.5%.
CONCLUSION:
Significant relationship between history of contact with active TB patients, duration of dialysis, and age of patients with TST positivity.
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