A Study on Prevalence of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Among the Suspected Cases Visiting Gorkha District Hospital and Tuberculosis Awareness Among them

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developingcountries like Nepal. With a view to study the prevalence of tuberculosis insuspected tuberculosis people present work was carried out in Gorkha DistrictHospital, during 2063/9/24 to 2063/12/24. A total of 290 samples were collectedfrom the suspected tuberculosis patients attending District Hospital Gorkha. Thesamples were examined by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining method. Out of 290samples, a total of 12 (4.12%)samples were foundAFB positive. Out of 12 totalAFB positive cases, 7 (58.33%) were males and 5 (41.66%) were females. Highprevalence of disease was revealed among the economically productive age groupof 20-49 years. Out of 290 respondents, 258 (88.96%) had knowledge abouttuberculosis. Regarding knowledge of symptoms, 48 (10.66%) said it wascoughing, 39 (15.11%) said coughing and fever, and 55 (21.31%) people's viewwas only fever. In relation to occupation wise prevalence of pulmonarytuberculosis (PTB), 1 (0.34%) was student, 3 (1.03%) were workers, 3 (1.03%)were farmers, 1 (0.34%) was job holder. 1 (0.34%) was businessman and 3(1.03%) were house-wives. Smoking is considered to be on of predisposing riskfactor for pulmonary tuberculosis. Out of 290 respondents, 115 (39.65%) werecurrent smokers and smoked between 5 to one packets per day. Among totalcurrent smokers, 70 (60.86%) were males and 45 (39.13%) were females. Morethan half of the respondents were in low economic level.