Studies on some immunological profile of patients infected with tuberculosis attending infectious diseases hospital, Kano

The magnitude of the immune response to tuberculosis (TB) infection also involves cell-mediated immunity comprising numerous types of T-cell subsets and this reflects the magnitude of the bacterial load and those with the highest load are at a greater risk of developing TB disease. The study assesses the immunological profile (CD4+, CD8+, CD3+, CD45+) of TB infected individuals with drug sensitive TB (DS-TB) and compares it with that of subjects with Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) and those with Rifampicin Resistant TB (RR-TB). The study was a cross-sectional study conducted at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Kano. Two hundred and five (205) subjects participated in the study. Collected sputum samples were subjected to Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining and cultured on Lowenstein Jensen medium for the identification of Mycobacteria tuberculosis. Molecular detection of M. tuberculosis and RR-TB was performed using Xpert® MTB/RIF. Blood samples were also collected and the T-cell counts were determined using flow cytometry. The result of the study indicated that 131 of the studied subjects were males and 74 were females and that majority of them were in the group 14-24years (41.0%), 25-34 years (35.6%) and 35-44 years (13.7%) respectively. Among the DS-TB and RR-TB groups majority were males (70.8% and 66.7% respectively). It was shown that 86.2% and 88.9% of the samples from the DS-TB and RR-TB were AFB positive.  However, all the 65 samples of DS-TB and 54 samples of the RR-TB were identified as MTB by culture. All the DS-TB samples were detected as susceptible TB by Xpert® MTB/RIF, and all the samples of the RR-TB were confirmed as rifampicin resistant by the Xpert® MTB/RIF. The study also revealed that the T-cell (CD4+, CD8+, CD3+ and CD45+) counts of the studied subjects varied significantly among the different groups of the study (p<0.05) and that compared to the control and the LTBI groups the DS-TB and the RR-TB groups recorded the lowest counts in the order; Control>LTBI>DS-TB>RR-TB. Key words: Tuberculosis, T-cells counts, Drug susceptible TB, Latent TB, RR-TB