Hiv Sero-prevalence And Risk Behaviors Among Tuberculous Patients In Khartoum State 2004/2005
Mohamed Ali Awad Elkarim, Omaima Kamal Saeed
كلية الدراسات العليا-جامعة الخرطوم · السودان
This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in seven health facilities to determine theHuman Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) sero-prevalence and risk behaviors among two groups oftuberculosis patients in Khartoum State. Three hundred and two patients were screened for HIVinfection by using an Enzyme Immuno-assay (EIA) test and reactive specimens were confirmedby another EIA test of different formatting.Three hundred and two patients were interviewed by using structured pre-tested questionnairewhich consisted of six sections concerned with the socio- demographic profile of the respondents,awareness about HIV/AIDS, its mode of transmission and prevention, recognition and use ofmale condom, history of sexually transmitted infections, available mass media, history of TBdisease and treatment.The epidemiological survey results revealed that the overall HIV seroprevalence among thepatients was 7.6%. Bivariate analysis revealed that, age and gender have no effect on thesusceptibility of the TB patients to get HIV infection.Median age of respondents of the first group among whom sero-survey was carried out was 31years and gender ratio between males and females was 2.5: 1.Socio-demographic profile of the second group showed that median age of participants was also31 years. Gender ratio between males and females was 1.8:1.More than 40% of the respondents were illiterate and 48.7% were originally from the WesternStates of the Sudan. One fifth of the patients had previous blood transfusion or surgicalinterventions.The majority of the patients (73.5%) were aware of AIDS and there was a statistical significantdifference between males and females, among age groups, different occupations and educationlevels, regarding knowledge about AIDS and male condom(p<0.001).VIIIAbout 48% could recognize a single symptom of AIDS and 54% could not identify the germ thatcauses it and 21.2% do not know any prevention method.Only 9.3% of the patients had been tested before for HIV infection.About 79% never saw or heard about the male condom and 80.8% said had never had any sexualrelations before and only 2% had been sexually active before marriage.A total of 16.3% of patients complained of different STIs symptoms.Only 20.2% of respondents received educational material about AIDS.Sixty nine percent of the patients had the TB disease for a year or less.From this study it is concluded that the HIV seroprevalence among TB patients is higher than inprevious survey conducted by the Sudan National AIDS Control Programme in 2002 and theinformation and education about HIV/AIDS are still weak.It is recommended to make use of all available sources that would ensure maximum spread ofinformation regarding HIV transmission, prevention and control and efforts should be intensifiedto provide HIV screening for all TB patients