Abstract:
Tuberculosis is a major public health problem throughout the world. About a third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with MTB and hence at risk of developing active disease. Even though the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of TB in Ethiopia is known, the trend of TB in most of the districts of the country is not known. To this effect, this study was designed to assess prevalence, drug resistance pattern, and risk factors of pulmonary MTB among out patients visiting Robe Didea hospital; southeastern Ethiopia. The study design used to carry out survey on the prevalence of MTB was a cross- sectional study. Structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic data and risk factors for M. tuberculosis; and molecular line probe assay methodology for drug sensitivity test. Light emitting diode fluorescent microscopy was used to identify the presence of MDR-TB. A total of 147 suspected TB patients were included in the study. IBM SPSS software (version 20) was used to statistically analyze the data collected from the respondents. Chi square test was also used to identify the risk factor for prevalence of MTB. Categorical data was presented by means of percentages and frequencies. The result indicates that the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was 6.12%. The risk factors for the prevalence of MTB are close contact with active TB patients 29.9% (P<0.05), crowded living condition 40.8% (P<0.05) and presence of family member with active tuberculosis 29.9% (P<0.05). Of all smear positive isolates, 11.1 % of the isolates were multidrug resistant. Education and awareness development training should be given to the community on the risk factors for the disease transmission and cares to be taken.
