Spectrum of Tuberculosis in HIV Patients and Its Co-relation to CD4 Count

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a well known problem since time immemorial. The management of tuberculosis in India have evolved a lot since the discovery of microscope and the antitubercular therapy. The recent epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus infection, caused a resurgence in tuberculosis. The national programmes for both tuberculosis and AIDS, have been integrated for better control of tuberculosis. Many studies show the atypical presentation of tuberculosis in HIV TB coinfected patients. In our study, HIV TB coinfected patients, the most common presentation of tuberculosis is pulmonary tuberculosis. The extra pulmonary tuberculosis incidence increased greatly when CD4 cell count went below 200 cells/ cu.mm. CD4 cell count is an cost effective method in not only understanding the risk of opportunistic infections, but also to categorize the most common opportunistic infection tuberculosis