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Notification of tuberculosis in patients with AIDS
A Ferguson1, D Bennett, S Conning
1PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London.
Background:
In the early 1990s cases of tuberculosis in people with HIV infection and AIDS were undernotified. A study to evaluate changes in notification rates in two inner London local authorities was undertaken for the period January 1993-June 1996 inclusive.
Methods:
For residents of the two local authorities, tuberculosis notifications were identified using a local database, and cases of AIDS with a recorded diagnosis of tuberculosis were identified from AIDS case reports.
Results:
During the study period, only 13 (32 per cent) of the 41 AIDS cases with a recorded diagnosis of tuberculosis were also notified as a case of tuberculosis. However, the proportion of notified cases rose from 0 per cent (0 of 11) in 1993 to 50 per cent (5 of 10) in 1995 and 63 per cent (5 of 8) in early 1996.
Conclusion:
The increase in the tuberculosis notification rate for people with AIDS is encouraging, but scope for improvement remains.