Demographic and living conditions of tuberculosis patients receiving directly observed therapy short course(DOTS) in Calabar, Nigeria

Understanding the role of poverty in the continued epidemic of TB in developing countries will provide useful information for the improvement of TB control activities in these areas. A survey of the living conditions of 274 TB patients registered for DOTS at the National Tuberculosis Control Program Centre of the Lawrence Henshaw Memorial hospital Calabar and the Endemic Disease Clinic of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar was conducted to verify the view that poverty influences the incidence and outcome of TB. Using a structured pre-tested self- or interview- administered questionnaire, data were collected from a sample of 274 subjects: males (162/59%) and females (112/41%) within the economically viable age of 15-55 years. Results showed that the number of TB patients in the study decreased with increasing number of children of .3 in the households of subjects. The average income of the 244 (89%) income earners was N6,045.00 ($46.50) a month. Of this number, 170 (70$37.00) monthly. Thirty (11%) had no reliable means of income. Unemployed persons and students constituted the highest percentage of the subjects (18% and 17% respectively). A low socio-economic status and poor housing conditions typified by overcrowding and poor ventilation characterized the TB patients in this study. TB control programs anchored by government and non-governmental agencies need to address poverty reduction as part of their intervention strategies

A Molecular Epidemiological and Genetic Diversity Study of Tuberculosis in Ibadan, Nnewi and Abuja, Nigeria

Background Nigeria has the tenth highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) among the 22 TB high-burden countries in the world. This study describes the biodiversity and epidemiology of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB in Ibadan, Nnewi and Abuja, using 409 DNAs extracted from culture positive TB isolates. Methodology/Principal Findings DNAs extracted from clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex were studied by spoligotyping and 24 VNTR typing. The Cameroon clade (CAM) was predominant followed by the M. africanum (West African 1) and T (mainly T2) clades. By using a smooth definition of clusters, 32 likely epi-linked clusters related to the Cameroon genotype family and 15 likely epi-linked clusters related to other “modern” genotypes were detected. Eight clusters concerned M. africanum West African 1. The recent transmission rate of TB was 38%. This large study shows that the recent transmission of TB in Nigeria is high, without major regional differences, with MDR-TB clusters. Improvement in the TB control programme is imperative to address the TB control problem in Nigeria