Pulmonary Tuberculosis Co-Infection in Hiv Positive Patients Reporting to the Art Clinic in a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Tuberculosis (TB) is considered the most common serious opportunistic infection in HIV positive patients. It is the manifestation of AIDS in more than 50% of cases in developing countries.We collected data of a total of 449 samples received from ART clinic of HIV positive patients for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) method.Since HIV infection leads to increase risk of tuberculosis because it decreases cell mediated immunity hence, it is of utmost importance that all HIV-infected individuals are tested for tuberculosis prior to the initiation of Anti Retrovirus Therapy (ART) in countries like India where tuberculosis is endemic.