| Delmence Niland |
| Department of Family Medicine, Stellenbosch |
| December, 2009 |
Abstract |
| Objective: To determine the prevalence of HIV in, and the profile of, adult tuberculosis (TB) patients seen at Stellenbosch district hospital and the four surrounding clinics. Method: A retrospective descriptive study design was used. The files of all the recently diagnosed adult TB patients who were admitted to the wards of Stellenbosch district hospital, seen at the hospital Out Patient Department (OPD) or seen in the four surrounding clinics during the period January – June 2008 were used to extract all the necessary information. Results: During the six month period dedicated to the investigation, 278 patients were found to have proven new onset TB. There were 56% male TB patients and 44% female TB patients. Most of the TB was in the 20 to 40 year old age group. Of the TB patients, 33.1% were HIV positive, 28.4% were HIV negative, 29.5% were not tested and 9% refused to be tested. Of those tested 53% were HIV positive and 46% were HIV negative. Conclusion: The prevalence of HIV in the tested TB patients was 53%. The reasons why 29% of the patients did not receive Voluntary Counselling and Testing needs to be investigated and addressed. |
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