IMMUNOLOGICAL MARKERS AND HEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AMONG NEWLY DIAGNOSED TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS AT JIMMA UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a cause of 1.2-1.5 million deaths worldwide, including deathsfrom TB among HIV positive people. Determining the extent of immune cells belonging to cell mediatedimmunity and haematological parameters is critical to maximize the potential benefit of anti-tuberculartreatment and case management.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Comparative cross sectional study was conducted to determine thewhite blood cell (WBC) count, CD 4 , CD 8 , haemoglobin (Hgb), red blood cell (RBC) count, meancorpuscular haemoglobin (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) between newly diagnosed TBpatients and apparently healthy controls (HCs).RESULTS: From consecutively enrolled 108 TB patients, pulmonary TB (PTB) accounted for48(44.4%), TB lymphadenitis accounted for 48(44.4%), and disseminated/miliary TB accounted for12(11.1%). Analysis of variance revealed that mean + SD of CD 4 count of male TB patients (650 +224cells/μl) was significantly lower than male control group (883 + 256 cells/μl) (p= 0.001). In a similarmanner, the mean CD 4 count of female TB patients (793 + 332cells/μl) was lower than female controlgroup (975 + 300 cells/μl) (p=0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in CD 8 countsbetween cases and controls for both genders. Forty (37.0%) TB patients had developed anaemia of whom22(55%) were among PTB, 13(32.5%) from tuberculous lymphadenitis and 5(20%) from disseminatedTB. Morphologically, from all anaemia among TB patients, normocytic normochromic anaemiaaccounted for 15(37.5%) followed by normocytic hypochromic anaemia 13(30.4%).CONCLUSION: CD 4 lymphopenia was significant among TB patients. Granulocyte count was increased.Mild anaemia was found major haematological abnormality among newly diagnosed TB patients.