HIV infection in patients with tuberculosis in Kinshasa, Zaire

To better define the interrelationship of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB), we conducted three HIV serosurveys of inpatients and outpatients with confirmed or suspected TB in Kinshasa, Zaire. HIV seroprevalence in hospitalized sanatorium patients did not change significantly in serosurveys conducted in 1985 and 1987 (92/231 [40%] versus 85/234 [36%]). These proportions were significantly higher than the 17% HIV seroprevalence observed in a 1987 serosurvey of 509 consecutive patients with an initial diagnosis of pulmonary TB seen at an outpatient TB diagnostic center in Kinshasa (p less than 0.001). HIV seroprevalence was higher in sanatorium patients with extrapulmonary TB (22/46 [48%]) and suspected pulmonary TB (60/132 [45%]) than in patients with bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB (94/287 [33%]) (p less than 0.02). Mycobacterium sputum isolation rates were similar in HIV-seropositive (28/34 [82%]) and HIV-seronegative patients (135/159 [85%]). All isolates were Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Eighteen (21%) of 84 HIV-seropositive sanatorium patients in 1987, who were followed for two months after admission, had died, compared with 11 (9%) of 128 HIV-seronegative patients (p less than 0.01). However, clearance rates of acid-fast bacilli from sputum after standard therapy were equally good in HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative survivors. With the growing AIDS problem, the serious TB burden in sub-Saharan Africa may become even more onerous and may critically overload the stressed African health care systems.