What is the Rate of Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infected Patients in Saudi Arabia?

Hythum Salah H. Mohamed^1, , Adel Alothman², Henry Baffoe-Bonnie² and Hisham Alageeb³

¹Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

²Department of Medicine, Divsion of Infectious Diseases, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

³Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Cite this paper:
Hythum Salah H. Mohamed, Adel Alothman, Henry Baffoe-Bonnie and Hisham Alageeb. What is the Rate of Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infected Patients in Saudi Arabia?. American Journal of Epidemiology and Infectious Disease. 2016; 4(1):10-13. doi: 10.12691/ajeid-4-1-2

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Despite significant investments in Tuberculosis (TB) control over 15 years, TB remains an important public health problem in Saudi Arabia (SA) affecting all age groups, and on the other side there is a notable increased in the number of people living with Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in SA. This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) among HIV-infected patients in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia (SA.Our study is the first study in the Middle East up to our knowledge and literature review in HIV-infected subjects. Material/methods: Retrospective study was conducted with a total of 61 HIV seropositive patients attended and followed up at data was collected and recorded form patients’ charts, electronic health record system and HIV data base for age, gender, nationality, chest- XR and CD4 count and also for Quantiferon test (QFT) which was used as screening test for detection of LTBI. Results: Among our patients, 46 were male (75.4 %) and 15 were female (24.6 %), the mean age was 44.4 years (age range 19-77 years), 57 were Saudi (93.4%) and 4 were non- Saudi (6.6 %). The mean baseline CD4 count for all patients was 285 cells/mm3. QFT was done for 40 patients (66.7%), 2/40 patients were positive (5.0 %), 35/40 patients were negative (87.5%) and 3/40 patients were intermediate (7.5%). Conclusions: We found an overall prevalence of LTBI is 5 % among HIV-infected individuals in SA, which is relatively low especially in TB endemic country, more epidemiological studies are needed in this high-risk group of patients for latent Tuberculosis in SA.

Keywords:
Latent TB HIV Saudi

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Gagiya A, Doctor N, Gamit S. Manifestation of tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS patients and its relationship with CD4 count. International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health 2013; 3(2): 215-218.
[2]	World Health Organization Global Tuberculosis Report 2015.
[3]	Jahdali HH, Baharoon S, Abba AA. Saudi guidelines for testing and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection, Ann Saudi Med 2010; 30(1):38-49.
[4]	Ministry of Health of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Closing the gap in HIV prevention and treatment 2014 from web site: http://www.moh.gov.
[5]	K, Wateba IM. Prevalence of latent TB infection in HIV infected persons in the Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital of Lomé. International Journal of Mycobacteriology 2013; 2(1): 26-28.
[6]	Adjoh K, Wateba IM. Prevalence of latent TB infection in HIV infected persons in the Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital of Lomé. International Journal of Mycobacteriology 2013; 2(1): 26-28.
[7]	Desale M, Intensified Case-Finding for Latent Tuberculosis Infection among the Baltimore City Hispanic Population. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health ; 15(4):680-685.
[8]	Health Statistical Annual Book. : Ministry of Health Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2011.
[9]	Brock I, Latent Tuberculosis in HIV positive, diagnosed by the M. Tuberculosis Specific Interferon-γ test. Respiratory Research 2006; 7(56).
[10]	Ramos JM, Robledano C, Masiá M. Contribution of Interferon gamma release assays testing to the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection in HIV-infected patients: A comparison of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In Tube, T-SPOT.TB and tuberculin skin test. BMC Infectious Diseases 2012; 12(169).
[11]	Latorre I, Martínez-lacasa X, Font R. IFN-γ response on T-cell based assays in HIV-infected patients for detection of tuberculosis infection. BMC Infectious Diseases 2010; 10(348).
[12]	Mardani M, Tabarsi P, Mohammadtaheri Z. Performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold test compared to tuberculin skin test in detecting latent tuberculosis infection in HIV- positive individuals in Iran. Ann Thorac Med 2010; 5(1): 43-46.
[13]	Abouzeid MS, Zumla AI, Felemban S. Tuberculosis Trends in Saudis and Non-Saudis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – A 10 Year Retrospective Study (2000-2009). PLoS One 2012; 7(6).
[14]	Al-hajoj S, Varghese B. Tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia: the journey across time. The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2015; 9(3):222-231.
[15]	United Nations Statistics Division (2013) Millennium Development Goals Indicators.
[16]	Garfein RS, Laniado-laborin R, Rodwell TC. Latent Tuberculosis among Persons at Risk for Infection with HIV, Tijuana, Mexico. Emerg Infect Dis 2010; 16(5):757-763.
[17]	Hibah NA, Hasan HA. Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection among multinational healthcare workers in Muhayil Saudi Arabia. The Eygptian Journal of Bronchology 2015; 9(2):183-187.
[18]	Abbas M, Alhamdan NA. Prevalence of latent TB among health care workers in four major tertiary care hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. J Egypt Public Health Assoc 2010; 85(1-2):61-71.
[19]	Al-hajoj S, Tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia, InTechOpen 2012; 15(555): 20-Joshi R, Patil S, Kalantri S. Prevalence of abnormal radiological findings in health care workers with latent tuberculosis infection and correlations with T cell immune response. PLoS One 2007; 2(8):805.
[20]	Joshi R, Patil S, Kalantri S. Prevalence of abnormal radiological findings in health care workers with latent tuberculosis infection and correlations with T cell immune response. PLoS One 2009; 2(8):e805.