Human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis co-infection in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Our study determined the rate of screening tuberculosis patients for HIV co-infection and the HIV seroprevalence among them. We retrospectively reviewed medical charts of 437 patients diagnosed with tuberculosis from 1995-2000 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Screening was done for 178 (41%) patients: 2 (1.1%) of these were found to be HIV positive. Prior to screening, 4 patients were already known to be HIV positive. Males were screened more often than females (45% and 36% respectively). All HIV positive patients were males. Screening was not affected by origin of the patient, history of prior tuberculosis or treatment, type of tuberculosis involvement or resistance to first line anti-tuberculosis agents. In Saudi Arabia, screening for HIV in tuberculosis patients remains underutilized. Among screened patients, seropositivity was low.