Farhat Bashir, Naresh Kumar Seetlani, Nadia Shams.
Familiar Face-Tuberculosis; An Encounter At A Basic Level.
Professional Med J Jan ;24(6):869-77.

Objectives: To describe the profile and outcome of tuberculosis in a secondary care center in a low socioeconomic area in Karachi. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: Sir Syed Hospital, Karachi after ethical approval. Period: All cases diagnosed and treated as tuberculosis from January till December 2013 were included. Material and Methods: Data from the medical records on demographics, signs and symptoms, laboratory investigations, and outcome status were recorded. All the data was entered in SPSS version 20. Quantitative variables were analyzed for mean ± SD. Results of categorical variables were obtained in numbers and percentages. Results: Among 214 patients who received antituberculous treatment during the period of study, 44% were male and 66% were females. Mean age was 32.6 ± 16.6 years. Contact tracing was done in 2% of patients. Most of the patients 80.8% came to the center on their own initiative. Around 68% of the patients had pulmonary tuberculosis. Sputum smear was done in 49.5% of patients out of whom 52% were Smear positive. CBC was the most common investigation ordered in these patients (78%). ESR was done in 69% of the patients. Extra pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 32% of patients and the diagnosis was made mostly on basis of clinical data. Tuberculous pleural effusion and tuberculous lymphadenitis were the most common extra-pulmonary sites involved. Around 67% patients completed treatment and 29% defaulted. None of the patients who defaulted were traced to find reason for default. Conclusion: Tuberculosis is epidemic in Pakistan. The National TB Program is contributing a lot towards control of the epidemic but some changes, better training and stricter monitoring is required in order for it to achieve optimal coverage and utilization.

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