Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Its Rifampicin Resistance among Patients Attending General Hospital Mararaba as a Case Study

Aims: To determine the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its Rifampicin resistance among patients attending General Hospital, Mararaba.

Study Design: This was a descriptive health-based research that involved clinically suspected tuberculosis patients whose sputum samples were referred to General Hospital Mararaba for diagnosis.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of tuberculosis, General Hospital Mararaba Nasarawa state between May to July 2019.

Methodology: A total of 100 suspected TB patients of both male and female were included in the study. Two sputum samples from each patient were collected from these patients with sputum containers and samples were processed under level 3 biosafety cabinet by mixing with the reagent that was provided with the assay following manufacturer’s manual and thereafter, the cartridge containing this mixture was placed in the Gene Xpert machine. The processing of the sample is fully automated and takes less than two hours.

Results: An overall prevalence of 21.5% was recorded for Mycobacterium tuberculosis with a rifampicin resistance rate of 65.11% among positive patients. The highest prevalence of infection was observed among the age group of above 40 years (40.0%), males (23.9%), self-employed people (25.6%), those living in a rural environment (31.8%) and those with informal education (35.7%). There was no statistically significant relationship between the prevalence of MTB to sex, marital status, education, employment and ethnicity (P>0.05). Environment factor was however significant (p<0.05). Highest frequency for rifampicin resistance was recorded in the age group 20-29(39.2%), (64.28%) in males, rural areas (57.14%), self-employed persons (57.14%) and single people (50.0%). Age about rifampicin resistance was significant (p<0.05) while sex, occupation, environment and rural areas were not significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: It was concluded that Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its Rif-resistance amongst patients attending General Hospital, Mararaba is comparatively high and indicative of the rate at which tuberculosis and drug resistance is still resilient despite various methods put in place to control it.