Abstract:
Tuberculosis is a deadly infectious disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Ethiopia ranks seventh among the twenty two high tuberculosis burden countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB), particularly pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and its associated risk factors among patients visiting Dukem Health Center, Oromiya Regional State. A cross-sectional survey on the prevalence of smear positive PTB was done among TB suspected patients visiting Dukem Health Center during December, 2017 to February, 2018. A total of 384 TB suspects were successively taken from the Out Patient Department of the Health Center to determine the current status of PTB. In addition, a longitudinal retrospective study was done to assess the TB cases during the past six years from year 2011-2016. From each TB suspect, sputum sample was collected and subsequently examined for acid fast bacilli using Ziehl-Neelsen staining technique. Pretested questionnaire was also used to determine the associated risk factors of TB infection among the study subjects. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify risk factors associated with pulmonary tuberculosis. The study revealed that the current prevalence of smear positive PTB was 7.8 %. The trend of all forms of TB started to decline starting from 2011 onwards in both sexes and all age groups. The current study also showed that age related, residence, and previous TB contact history, living in a confined place, alcohol consumption, educational status, monthly income and smoking cigarettes were significantly(p<0.05)associated with prevalence of smear positive TB cases. Generally, in this study, the high prevalence of smear positive PTB in the area suggested the need for implementing strict screening of patients for TB and intensification of health education to prevent the spread of the disease and to create awareness on risk factors contributing to the infection. In addition, routine checkup of TB among TB suspects is important to minimize the burden of the disease and to control the transmission rate in the area
