Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum and reported symptoms among clinic attendees compared to a community survey in rural South Africa
View/ Open
Date
2022-01-12Author
Govender, Indira
Karat, Aaron S.
Olivier, Stephen
Baisley, Kathy
Beckwith, Peter
Dayi, Njabulo
Dreyer, Jaco
Gareta, Dickman
Gunda, Resign
Kielmann, Karina
Koole, Olivier
Mhlongo, Ngcebo
Modise, Tshwaraganang
Moodley, Sashen
Mpofana, Xolile
Ndung’u, Thumbi
Pillay, Deenan
Siedner, Mark J.
Smit, Theresa
Surujdeen, Ashmika
Wong, Emily B.
Grant, Alison D.
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Govender, I., Karat, A.S., Olivier, S., Baisley, K., Beckwith, P., Dayi, N., Dreyer, J., Gareta, D., Gunda, R., Kielmann, K., Koole, O., Mhlongo, N., Modise, T., Moodley, S., Mpofana, X., Ndung’u, T., Pillay, D., Siedner, M.J., Smit, T., Surujdeen, A., Wong, E.B. and Grant, A.D. (2022) ‘Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum and reported symptoms among clinic attendees compared to a community survey in rural South Africa’, Clinical Infectious Diseases (In Press).
Abstract
Background Tuberculosis (TB) case finding efforts typically target symptomatic people attending health facilities. We compared the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) sputum culture-positivity among adult clinic attendees in rural South Africa with a concurrent, community-based estimate from the surrounding demographic surveillance area (DSA). Methods Clinic: Randomly-selected adults (≥18 years) attending two primary healthcare clinics were interviewed and requested to give sputum for mycobacterial culture. HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) status were based on self-report and record review. Community: All adult (≥15 years) DSA residents were invited to a mobile clinic for health screening, including serological HIV testing; those with ≥1 TB symptom (cough, weight loss, night sweats, fever) or abnormal chest radiograph were asked for sputum. Results Clinic: 2,055 patients were enrolled (76.9% female, median age 36 years); 1,479 (72.0%) were classified HIV-positive (98.9% on ART) and 131 (6.4%) reported ≥1 TB symptom. Of 20/2,055 (1.0% [95% CI 0.6–1.5]) with Mtb culture-positive sputum, 14 (70%) reported no symptoms. Community: 10,320 residents were enrolled (68.3% female, median age 38 years); 3,105 (30.3%) tested HIV-positive (87.4% on ART) and 1,091 (10.6%) reported ≥1 TB symptom. Of 58/10,320 (0.6% [95% CI 0.4–0.7]) with Mtb culture-positive sputum, 45 (77.6%) reported no symptoms. In both surveys, sputum culture positivity was associated with male sex and reporting >1 TB symptom. Conclusions In both clinic and community settings, most participants with Mtb culture-positive sputum were asymptomatic. TB screening based only on symptoms will miss many people with active disease in both settings. A correction has been published: Clinical Infectious Diseases, ciac244, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac244