Sputum smear examination of adult tuberculosis patients admitted in National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH)

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the improvement of the adult tuberculosis patients admitted in National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) using AFB microscopic examination. Materials and methods: The study had been conducted among adult TB patients admitted in NIDCH, Dhaka. There were 21 adult patients in this study. The study had been started with preparing a questionnaire to assemble all the necessary information related to TB disease. All of the patients in this study were suffering from pulmonary TB. The existence of this fatal disease among these patients had been confirmed after performing AFB microscopic test. Before performing the AFB microscopic test, a verbal consent from all of the patients was collected. After confirmation of the pulmonary TB, they had been started to take anti-TB drugs. Among these 21 patients, only 7 patients had been included in the 2nd AFB microscopic examination due to some limitations. The outcomes of these two tests were examined to assess the rate of progression of the patients. The hematological report of all the patients were also assessed during the study period to observe other associated risks as well as their health condition due to the presence of TB disease among the patients. Results: In the 2nd AFB microscopic examination of this study, there were only 3 patients among 7 follow up patients showing all negative results. This indicates the success of the treatment among these 3 patients (43%). AFB microscopic results of remaining 4 patients (57%) were still positive showing the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the sputum. AFB microscopic results of rest of the patients were not negative as they were improving in a slow rate. Therefore, they were responsing slowly towards anti-TB drugs. Another important finding of this study was, there were only 7 patients (33%) present in the 2nd AFB microscopic examination, but in TB disease routine checkup is very crucial to observe the improvement rate. This low percentage indicates the carelessness among the patients. Conclusion: The result demonstrates that proper management of tuberculosis is indeed to rule out this deadly disease from the country. This study can proceed further to have more comprehensible results.