Wrong diagnostic TB in HIV patients could be fatal

San Francisco, few people are often diagnosed as one of tuberculosis (TB false). But this can be very fatal if it occurs in HIV-infected patients, because of the risk of death.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and Makerere University, Kampala, showed that HIV-infected patients the wrong diagnosis of tuberculosis has a high mortality rate compared with people who have the correct diagnosis.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis in HIV patients in particular have become important factors for increasing susceptibility to disease and one of the tests can be done is to conduct sputum tests to reveal the results.

"Among the people infected with HIV and getting the wrong diagnosis of tuberculosis has a more serious risk because of increased risk of death," said study leader Robert Blount of the UCSF School of Medicine, as quoted from Medicalnewstoday, Friday (05/21/2010).

In this study, Dr. Blount and his colleagues evaluated the results from 600 HIV-infected patients who were treated at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, including one patient who was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is still a common cause of pulmonary disease worldwide and HIV-infected patients are very susceptible to tuberculosis.

Hence the diagnosis of this disease is a challenge for experts. Doctors and researchers have long understood that the wrong diagnosis of tuberculosis can lead to bad results and increase the risk of death. Although the exact relationship has not been widely understood, but there is a possibility, since it reduces the person's immune system.

Dr. Blount said poorer outcome was found because it does not exactly care received by patients due to wrong diagnosis, this causes underlying the condition remains untreated the disease because the treatment for tuberculosis should be based on the underlying disease.

"We recommend that physicians should closely monitor patients who have been diagnosed as having tuberculosis, this is to ascertain whether a given treatment is working or not and to assess and re-diagnosis if the patient did not show improvement," said Dr. Blount.

Further research should be focused on developing diagnostic tests for tuberculosis are more sensitive and specific, thus reducing the risk of diagnostic errors or false results. The results of this study will be presented at ATS 2010 international conference in New Orleans, United States.