Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (Cbnaat) for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis In HIV: Results from Madurai District, Tamilnadu.

Background: Compared to sputum smear microscopy, which has limited utility among People Living with HIV(PLHIV) CBNAAT is able to detect more TB cases regardless of HIV status. Limited studies exist to study this in rural population. Methods: The study objective was to assess the proportion of CBNAAT being positive for mycobacterium tuberculosis and there in rifamycin sensitivity among the HIV infected patients attending Tuberculosis clinic at a tertiary care hospital (receiving huge rural population), at Madurai, Tamilnadu. The Demographic, and CBNAAT results data of all HIV infected patients attending Pulmonology Out patient clinic at Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai during the period between January 2017 to June 2017 were collected and analysed. Results: Data on a total of 428 patients was obtained from the period of January 2017 to June 2017, who fit into the inclusion criteria. Out of this total, 64%(n=272) were males. Among the total 428 patients, 56 patients(13%) were detected positive for mycobacterium tuberculosis. Gastric juice and FOB did not yield any positive results for TB in all positive, among the M.TB detected patients, 55 were sensitive to Rifampicin and only one patient was reported as resistance to Rifampicin. Conclusion: Fairly good proportion of M.TB detection is possible, when we use CBNAAT for detecting TB in HIV infected, even when the patients have with limited duration of respiratory symptom