Diagnosis of Pulmonary and Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis at DHQ Teaching Hospital Gujranwala

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an important infectious illness that causes high morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is the only key to successful control of TB.Objective: To observe the diagnostic frequency of pulmonary TB andrifampicin resistant cases using ZN smear and GeneXpert among suspects visiting DHQ teaching hospital Gujranwala.Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in the department of Pulmonology, Gujranwala Medical College/DHQ Teaching Hospital Gujranwala during January 2018 to June 2019. After taking the informed consent, one spot sputum specimen per patient was collected from patients tested on Gene Xpert while two specimens per patient were collected from patients tested by ZN staining. Demographic and clinical data were entered and analysed using SPSS.Results: A total of 1535 patients were tested on Gene Xpert and 5323 on ZN smear microscopy. Present study showed smear positivity on Zn staining 11.7% with male to female proportion of 78.4% and 21.6% respectively. Gene Xpert positivity was 26.7% with male to female proportion of 66.4% and 33.6%.Conclusion: It is pertinent that Gene Xpert is a valuable addition in the diagnosis of TB and drug resistant TB however importance of ZN smear could not be ruled out due to number of advantages.