[Tuberculosis annual report 2008--Series 7. condition of TB (2)]

The disease condition of the patient at the time of diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) greatly influences subsequent TB treatment and prognosis. Here we report on the data of HIV infection, diabetes and drug susceptibility test results, which were added to the central TB surveillance database from 2007. In the TB surveillance system, the item 'HIV' was classified into three codes, 'has HIV', 'does not have HIV' and 'unknown'. Although it was requested that 'has HIV' and 'does not have HIV' be coded based on HIV test results, this rule was not strictly followed in public health centers, and medical institutions usually give information to a public health center only in the case of HIV positive. Therefore, 'does not have HIV' cannot be assumed based on the test result. Hence, we show only the number of TB patients having HIV infection. In 2007-2008, 124 TB patients newly notified were reported as having HIV. Of those, 110 (88.7%) were male and 14 (11.3 %) were female, and 25 (20.2%) were foreigners. Although the ages of those having HIV were broadly distributed from the 20's to 70's, most patients were from 30 to 44 years old. As to diabetes, 12.9% (3,192/24,760) of newly notified TB patients in 2008 were reported as having diabetes, and this proportion was higher among males (15.0%) than females (9.2%). Susceptibility test results of 8,505 culture positive pulmonary TB patients were obtained through the system in 2007-2008, among which 98 (1.2%) were MDR TB. The proportion of MDR was different between new treatment and retreatment cases, 0.6% of new treatment and 6.5% of retreatment, respectively. The proportion of MDR was the highest among 20's in both males and females. More than half of MDR TB patients in 20's were foreigners.