HIV : antibody among tuberculous patients in Zambia

Sera from 72 tuberculosis patients obtained from U.T.H. (Urban - 40 patients) and Katete (Rural - 32 patients) and 144 controls matched for age and sex were analysed for anti-bodies to HIV. The testing was by a specific competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent essay (ELISA) technique -the WELLCOMYME-HTLV-II test.
The positive sera were not subjected to further testing by western blot technique. Seropositivity for HIV among tuberculosis patients was 43% as compared to 15% seropositivity among controls (P Value - 0.0000001 and ODD ratio of 3). The seropositivity to HIV among the urban patients (57.5% of 40 patients) is twice as much as the seropositivity among the rural patients (25% of 32 patients). The seropositivity is also higher among the urban controls (22.5%) than among the rural counterparts (6.2%). 46 female and 26 males were seen. Of the 46 females, 22 were seropositive whereas 9 of the 26 males were seropositive. There was no significant increase of seropositivity with increasing age. However, the peak of seropositivity occurred between the ages of 25 and 35 years of age. There was also no significant difference in weight gains between seropositive and the seronegative TB patients on the same standard anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy. Seropositivity was highest among the extrapulmonary TB patients: 88.9% for TB lymphadenitis, 71.4% for pleural effusion and 50% for TB peritonitis, (whereas PTB had only 31.5% seropositivity). This data shows that there is a high correlation between HIV seropositivity and tuberculosis.