A Study on HIV-Tuberculosis Co-Infection and Correlation with CD4+ T Lymphocyte Levels at Agartala Government Medical College

Background Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB) co-infection is a lamentable medical phenomenon and CD4 count among them is a surrogate marker of their immune status. Objectives 1. To study the epidemiological profile of HIV TB co-infected subjects.2. To study the CD4 count status among HIV, TB and HIV-TB co-infected patients both at diagnosis (pre treatment) and after initiation of treatment. Methodology This was a hospital based comparative cross-sectional study conducted at Agartala Government Medical College between May& June 2013, among 60 patients in each group of HIV, TB and HIV-TB co-infected patients. Results The study revealed that the HIV-TB co infection and HIV infection was more prevalent among males and in the age group of. Majority of the HIV-TB co-infected patients had CD4 count less than 200 cells/l at the time of diagnosis and there has been a significant rise in CD4 count level with the initiation of treatment in all the three groups of HIV +ve patients, HIV-TB co-infected patients, and TB patients (P value