Prevalence of Smear Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Kailali, far-Western Region of Nepal

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading public health problem worldwide particularly in the developing countries like Nepal.  The objective of the study was to know status of TB infection cases among the patients visiting to Malakheti hospital, Kailali, Seti zone, Nepal. A cross-sectional study was carried out on total of 545 patients made up of inpatients and outpatients at the Malakheti hospital, Kailali Seti zone between January 2008 and July 2009. A questionnaire was designed to obtain age, sex, ethnic group, occupation, marital status, address, and religion. Three consecutive days samples were collected. The World Health Organization (WHO) procedure for diagnosis of TB at the district level was adopted for this study by the Ziehl-Neelsen (Zn) method using hot technique and examined with oil immersion using binocular light microscope.  Of the total 545 cases under investigation only 428 completed the study. The total number of male and female were 340(62.4%) and female 205(37.6%) respectively. Of the total visiting patient 485 were from Kailali, 53 were from kanchanpur and 7 were from others place. While age wise distribution less than 11 years, 11-19,19-60 and 60+ were 11(2.0%), 33(6.1%), 403(73.9%) and 98(18%) respectively. Total positive case of the pulmonary tuberculosis by staining method was found to be 47(10.98%) and negative cases were 381(89.02%). No significant relation was found with the variables. The study concludes that still it has high TB infection in Nepal and the prevention and treatment should be more improved.