Outcome of Tuberculosis treatment in sputum positive patients after eight months of anti-tuberculosis therapy

The Study was conducted at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), chest clinic. The purpose of the study was to find out the outcome of tuberculosis treatment in Sputum Positive Patients after eight months anti-tuberculosis treatment.
Observation and literature review has shown that there has been an increase in the number of tuberculosis patients since 1980 .A large proportion of this increase has been attributed to the endogenous activation of dormant tuberculosis in HIV infected patients. Literature has also revealed an increase in the case fatality rate due to poor diagnosis of TB patients and this is despite TB being a curable and preventable disease.
The study is a retrospective audit of Tuberculosis files from January 1997 to December 1997. 256 files of adults who were diagnosed to be sputum positive were chosen by systematic sampling technique and data was analysed by computer using the EPI-INFO programme.
The findings of the study revealed that Tuberculosis affects more people between the ages of 20 and 45 years (84.7%), and males being in the majority (55.1%). 49.8% of the subjects files were not re-tested at the end of the two months intensive therapy. 58.7% did not complete their treatment, of these, 76.3% were defaulters. Almost 10% (9.5%) of these died while on anti-tuberculosis treatment. The majority of these came from high density areas compared to a low number 3.4% who lived in low density areas.
The study is clearly demonstrating the serious problem the tuberculosis control program is facing in Zambia. It appears the efforts put in are not enough. Therefore there is a probability of an explosive outbreak of dangerous type of tuberculosis involving all age groups and sexes and geolocations.