CBNAAT : A STUDY FROM ACSR MEDICAL COLLEGE, NELLORE

Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency virus have been the two leading causes of infectious diseases associated with mortality worldwide. HIV infection is a well recognised risk factor for both activation of initial infection and reactivation of latent infection. This study was done to assess co-prevalence of TB among HIV infection using GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay. Six hundred and forty three samples with symptoms suggestive of pulmonary tuberculosis were included in this study. Rifampicin resistance was studied by GeneXpert. Sputum specimens were processed for TB detection by Cartridge based nucleic acid amplification testing using Xpert MTB/Rif assay technique. A total of 643 patients with symptoms suggestive of pulmonary tuberculosis in a period of 5 months were studied. Out of these, 287 were reported positive for tuberculosis by CBNAAT. Incidence of tuberculosis in reactive females was 68% and males 60.4% and total prevalence was 28.14% in our study. Prevalence of Rifampicin resistance was 1.09%. It is important to screen MDR-TB cases especially in the immunosuppressed individuals to identify early resistance and also to prevent spread of MDR-TB and Xpert MTB/RIF is a better screening tool.