Dilok Tongsukh. TB infection and treatment among refugees in Tham Hin Camp Ratchaburi province Thailand. Master's Degree(Tropical Medicine). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2009.
TB infection and treatment among refugees in Tham Hin Camp Ratchaburi province Thailand
Abstract:
This study was a cross-sectional survey of the medical records of 5,122 refugees in
Tham Hin Camp, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand, 1 February 2006-31 November 2008. The
primary aims were to estimate the prevalence of TB and evaluate the outcomes of TB
treatment among this cohort. The secondary objectives were to estimate the rate of TB
infection among children aged ≤ 15 years and household contacts ≤ 15 years, and to explore
TB risk factors among household contacts aged ≤ 15 years, in the camp.
During the 2-year study period, the rate of TB infection was 5.15% (264/5,122), with
5.13% (263) pulmonary, and 0.02% (1) extra-pulmonary, cases. 31.45% of the total samples
(5,122) were suspected TB cases. 16.39% (264/1,611) were TB patients from the suspected
TB cases, including 16.33% pulmonary and 0.06% extra-pulmonary TB cases. Among 264 TB
patients, most (95.8%) gave negative, and 4.2% positive, sputum-smears. Of the same 264 TB
patients, about 85% gave negative sputum-culture results, with 15% positive. Most TB
patients (99.6%) had pulmonary tuberculosis, and only 0.4% had extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.
Of 264 cases, 83.3% were smear/culture-negative, 12.5% smear-negative/culture-positive,
3.0% smear/culture-positive, and 1.1% smear-positive/culture-negative. Successful treatment
outcomes were high, at 98.1% (259/264). The rates of treatment completed, patient cured,
treatment failure, and patient died, were 82.6, 15.5, 0.4, and 0.8%, respectively. We found
2.4% MDR, 14.7% SDR (isoniazid, streptomycin), and 82.9% pan-susceptible, among the 264
TB cases.
Of the total children (4,861), 2,242 were aged ≤ 15 years; tuberculosis skin testing
(TST) with this group (1,157 males and 1,085 females) found a prevalence of 6%. The rate
among household contacts was 18.9% (58/307).
A total of 112 TB index cases and 307 household contacts were analyzed to elicit risk
factors for TB infection among the household contacts, including contact factors, TB case
factors, and environmental factors. Univariate analysis revealed age (in years) (p-value =
0.005) to be the only contact risk factor. Risk factors associated with TB infection among the
household contacts were not significantly associated with TB case factors, i.e. gender, age,
relationship with contact, cavity on chest radiograph, sputum-smear grade, or sputum culture.
Risk factors among the household contacts were not significantly associated with household
size or crowding.
Contact age (in years) was a significant variable in univariate analysis (p-value =
0.005). Logistic regression analysis yielded an adjusted OR = 3.47 95% CI = 1.55-7.78.
Therefore, contact age (in years) was associated with TB infection among the household
contacts in Tham Hin Camp.