BURDEN OF TUBERCULOSIS AMONG STUDENTS IN TWO ETHIOPIAN UNIVERSITIES
Abstract
Aims/Purpose: TB outbreaks emerge occasionally in long-term care facilities, including various educational establishments. This study was designed to determine the five years overall prevalence and trend of tuberculosis and associated factors among students at Adama Science and Technology University and Addis Ababa University 6 kilo campus.
Methods: A five years retrospective study was conducted on students’ medical records from TB Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) clinics. The overall prevalence and the trend of smear positive, smear negative and extra pulmonary TB cases were determined. Odds ratio with 95 percent C.I was calculated using the Logistic Regression model. Furthermore, an in-depth assessment of AFB sputum smear examination practices of the lab staffs were conducted using the WHO's standard checklist.
Results: A total of 112 and 263 TB cases were recorded in Addis Ababa University (AAU), 6 kilo campus and Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in prevalence of TB among students in ASTU compared to that in AAU, 6 kilo campus [AOR: 2.881, 95% CI (1.76-4.71)]. An in-depth interview with the respective University Clinic lab chiefs indicated that the University labs were not linked with the national tuberculosis program and hence quality of sputum smear microscopy examination practices in both study Universities were found to be poor.
Conclusions: The numbers of tuberculosis cases observed in this study were high. Governmental and Nongovernmental agencies involved in TB control must consider higher education institutions as focal points for prevention and elimination of tuberculosis in Ethiopia.
References
Federica B, Francesco M and Andrea D. Immunology of Tuberculosis. Mediterr J Hematol Infect Dis. 2014; 6(1): e2014027, DOI: 10.4084/MJHID.2014.027
____________________________________________________
Who. Global tuberculosis report 2012. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2012.
____________________________________________________
The Lodi Tuberculosis Working Group. A school-and community-based outbreak of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in northern Italy. Epidemiol Infect. 1994;113:83–93.
____________________________________________________
Zhang S, Hong Yan H, Zhang J, Zhang T, Li X and Zhang Y. The experience of college students with pulmonary tuberculosis in Shaanxi, China: a qualitative study BMC Infectious Diseases. 2010; 10:174 doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-10-174
____________________________________________________
Stein-Zamir C, Volovik I, Rishpon S, Atamna A, Lavy A, and Weiler-Ravell D. Tuberculosis outbreak among students in a boarding school. Eur Respir J. 2006;28(5):986–91.
____________________________________________________
Moges B, Amare B, Yismaw G, et al. Prevalence of tuberculosis and treatment outcome among university students in Northwest Ethiopia: a retrospective study. BMC Public Health. 2015; 15:15. DOI 10.1186/s12889-015-1378-1.
____________________________________________________
Dye C. and Williams B. Eliminating human tuberculosis in the twenty-first century. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 2008; 5: 653-662.
___________________________________________________
Dye C. and Borgdorff M. Global Epidemiology and Control of Tuberculosis, in Handbook of Tuberculosis: Clinics, Diagnostics, Therapy and Epidemiology. Kaufmann S and Helden P, Editors. WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim; 2008.
____________________________________________________
Manual of Tuberculosis and Leprosy and TB/HIV prevention and control, F.M.o. Health, Editor, EthioTikur Printing Press: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2008.
____________________________________________________
Ethiopia, M.o.H.o., First Ethiopian National Population Based Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey; 2011.
____________________________________________________
Kate A and Philip R. The Purposes and Practices of Quality Assurance in Ethiopian Higher Education: Journey, Adaptation and Integration. International Journal of Business Anthropology. 2012: 3(2).
____________________________________________________
Global Tuberculosis report, 2014. Key indicators for the WHO African region. Estimates of mortality, prevalence and incidence (www.who.int/tb/data/)
____________________________________________________
WHO: 44th World Health Assembly (WHA/1991/REC/1); supplemented by 53rd World Health Assembly, Report by the Director General, Provisional Agenda Item 12.1, A53/5. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2000.
____________________________________________________
Yamasaki-Nakagawa K, Ozasa N, Yamada N, et al. Gender difference in delays to diagnosis and health care seeking behavior in a rural area of Nepal. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2001; 5:24–31.
____________________________________________________
Abiyu M. Smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis and AFB examination practices according to the standard checklist of WHO’s tuberculosis laboratory assessment tool in three governmental hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia. BMC Research Notes. 2014; 7:295. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-295
____________________________________________________
WHO: Global tuberculosis control: surveillance, planning, financing: WHO report 2008. 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland: WHO/HTM/TB/ 2008.393, WHO Press, World Health Organization; 2008.
____________________________________________________
