FAMILIAR FACE-TUBERCULOSIS;

Objectives: To describe the profile and outcome of tuberculosis in a secondarycare center in a low socioeconomic area in Karachi. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectionalstudy. Setting: Sir Syed Hospital, Karachi after ethical approval. Period: All cases diagnosedand treated as tuberculosis from January till December 2013 were included. Material andMethods: Data from the medical records on demographics, signs and symptoms, laboratoryinvestigations, and outcome status were recorded. All the data was entered in SPSS version20. Quantitative variables were analyzed for mean ± SD. Results of categorical variableswere obtained in numbers and percentages. Results: Among 214 patients who received antituberculoustreatment during the period of study, 44% were male and 66% were females. Meanage was 32.6 ± 16.6 years. Contact tracing was done in 2% of patients. Most of the patients80.8% came to the center on their own initiative. Around 68% of the patients had pulmonarytuberculosis. Sputum smear was done in 49.5% of patients out of whom 52% were Smearpositive. CBC was the most common investigation ordered in these patients (78%). ESR wasdone in 69% of the patients. Extra pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 32% of patientsand the diagnosis was made mostly on basis of clinical data. Tuberculous pleural effusionand tuberculous lymphadenitis were the most common extra-pulmonary sites involved. Around67% patients completed treatment and 29% defaulted. None of the patients who defaultedwere traced to find reason for default. Conclusion: Tuberculosis is epidemic in Pakistan. TheNational TB Program is contributing a lot towards control of the epidemic but some changes,better training and stricter monitoring is required in order for it to achieve optimal coverage andutilization.