Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 152, No. 5, Nov 1995, 1558-1561.
Clinical and chest radiographic features of tuberculosis associated with human immunodeficiency virus in Zimbabwe
AL Pozniak, GA MacLeod, D Ndlovu, E Ross, M Mahari and J Weinberg
Department of Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
In the developing world, the diagnosis of tuberculosis is dependent on
clinical and radiologic features as culture facilities are not readily
available. It has been reported that tuberculosis in HIV-positive persons
can present with atypical clinical and radiographic features. The object of
this study was to examine how often atypical features occur in HIV-positive
compared with HIV-negative persons and how these findings correspond to
sputum-smear findings. Detailed demographic, clinical, and chest
radiographic features of tuberculosis were assessed in 202 HIV-positive
adults and 220 HIV-negative patients admitted consecutively. Using
univariate analysis, several of these features were found to be
significantly associated with being HIV-positive, but after multiple
regression analysis only, age group (15 to 42 yr), a negative tuberculin
response, intrathoracic lymphadenopathy, and lack of cavitation but not
sputum-smear status remained significant.
