Prevalence of mycobacterium tuberculosis and their possible risk factors in suspected tuberculosis patients of district mardan khyber pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the chronic contagious diseases caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis that affect humans and animals. It is stated that TB is one of the major leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the globe. According to the WHO, approximately one-third people of the world are infected and about 3 million people die annually due to this disease. The present study reported the incidence rate of pulmonary TB and their possible risk factors in suspected TB patients according to age, gender, and location-wise prevalence of the disease in District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 380 sputum samples were collected from infected Tuberculosis patients and initially screened for acid-fast bacilli through Zeihl Neelson (ZN) microscopy and positive samples were further assayed by Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (GeneXpert). Out of these sputum samples 40% were positive for ZN staining and 31.57% were positive by GeneXpert. The prevalence rate was reported high in the age group of above sixty while a lower prevalence rate was found in the age group of 5-20 years. Male to female ratio was recorded at 37.83% and 41.37% respectively. Geographically, rural populations were highly infected by M. Tuberculosis which showed 45.19% as compared to the urban population showed 26.16% prevalence rate. All the relative risk factors are statistically significant having p-value (<0.05). It was concluded from our finding that TB was considerably increased in the general population of District Mardan, and proper supervision, diagnosis, treatment, and awareness of rapid prophylactic measures are needed to eradicate the risk.