Características da tuberculose pulmonar em pacientes com sorologia positiva e negativa para o HIV em uma região do Nordeste do Brasil

The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical, epidemiological and bacteriological features present in 60 pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were also infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to compare these with 120 TB patients who were not infected with HIV. The patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV coinfection were mostly male (p = 0.001), showed a higher frequency of weight loss >10 kilos (p <0.001), had a higher rate of non-reaction result to the tuberculin skin test (p <0.001), a higher frequency of negative sputum smear examination for acid-fast bacilli (p = 0.001) and negative sputum culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (p = 0.001). Treatment failure was more common in those who were HIV positive (p <0.000). No higher frequency of resistance to antituberculosis drugs was found to be associated with TB/HIV coinfection (p = 0.407). Association between extrapulmonary and pulmonary tuberculosis was more frequent in those seropositive to HIV than those without HIV virus, 30% and 1.6% respectively. These findings showed a predominance of atypical clinical laboratory features in co-infected patients, and suggest that health care personnel should consider the possibility this diagnosis.Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar características clínicas, epidemiológicas e bacteriológicas de 60 pacientes com tuberculose pulmonar infectados pelo HIV(+) comparando-as às de 120 pacientes com TB pulmonar/HIV(-). Analisou-se as características em relação ao sexo, idade, hábitos de vida, antecedentes de contato ou tratamento anterior para tuberculose, características clínicas e bacteriológicas e resultado do tratamento. Os doentes co-infectados foram predominantemente do sexo masculino (p=0,001), referiram com maior freqüência perda >10 quilos (p<0,001), apresentaram maior freqüência de teste tuberculínico não reatores (p<0,001), baciloscopia negativa (p=0,001) e cultura de escarro negativa (p<0,001). O insucesso do tratamento foi mais significante naqueles HIV(+) (p