Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of tuberculosis in leon bernard tuberculosis unit in algeria

This study aimed at highlighting some demographic and clinical features of tuberculosis (TB) at Leon Bernard TB unit, Algeria.

This was a retrospective and descriptive study based on TB data extracted from TB patient records during 2009-2019 at Leon Bernard TB unit.

Of the total 1375 TB patients, 602 (43.8%) had extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), 482 (35.1%) had new sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB (PTB), 42 (3.1%) had sputum smear-negative with culture-positive PTB, and 97 (7%) EPTB patients had concomitant pulmonary involvement. The male-to-female ratio was 1.07. A total of 116 (8.4%) TB relapses were reported with predominance among ETPB cases (54.3%). Lymphadenitis TB was the most common manifestation of EPTB with 301 cases (39.6%), followed by pleural TB with 237 cases (31.2%). The number of bacteriologically not confirmed EPTB was 22.6% more than half (53.3%) of whom were pleural TB. Among patients with new sputum smear-positive PTB, 71.2% were males, whereas the reverse was observed among patients with EPTB where 62.3% were female. Two-third of recorded cases were between 15 and 45 years old. Nearly all children had EPTB (64/69). The results revealed that most of the patients who passed away were affected by PTB (15/18), and the most frequent cmorbidities were diabetes (9/18) and high blood pressure (6/18).

Specific attention needs to be given to an examination of the risk factors of PTB among male population and of EPTB among female population and children and to diagnosis of pleural TB and primary PTB.