Bacteriological Prevalence of Tuberculosis Among Children Seen in Health Facilities in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Background: Tuberculosis, a disease of significant public health importance remains a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality globally. Under-reporting of new cases is a major setback in the correct estimate of the global burden of pediatric TB. Data on pediatric TB from TB-endemic countries being limited. It is recommended that continuous research be conducted to ascertain and better understand the magnitude of the problem and to provide reliable, timely and cost-efficient information for action.
Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the bacteriological prevalence of tuberculosis and TB-HIV co-infection among children seen in health facilities in Nasarawa state, North-Central Nigeria.
Subjects and Method: The study subjects consisted of one hundred and fifty (150) children aged 18 months to 15 years who were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Data, was obtained from their care-givers using interviewer administered questionnaires. The study subjects had their sputum or gastric aspirates samples collected for acid-fast bacilli microscopy and culture. Blood samples were taken for HIV screening. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 17.0.
Results: The ages of the subjects averaged 9.12±4.66 years and majority of them were females with male to female ratio of 0.92:1. The prevalence of tuberculosis found among them by microscopy and culture are 16.7% and 30.0% respectively while the prevalence of definite TB case was 32% which is 5.5 times higher than the reported national average. The prevalence of 10.0% for TB-HIV co-infection was also found among the study subjects.
Conclusion: There is a high burden of pediatric TB in Nasarawa State (higher than average national prevalence). This study can be extended to six Geopolitical regions of Nigeria, to find out the true situation nationwide.