Background Tuberculosis is a leading killer among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV-infected individuals with latent TB are approximately 20–30 times more likely to develop TB disease, at a rate of 8–10% per year, with the disease estimated to cause approximately 9 million cases annually and 1.5 million deaths. Hypothesis tested was site of infection effect on tuberculosis on tuberculosis treatment outcome. This study determined the diagnostic validity and reliability of Xpert MTB/RIF in identifying the presence of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) among HIV patients in South Western Nigeria.

Methods This study was a prospective analytical study among HIV patients between ages 15 – 60 years who are infected with HIV seen from January 2015 - June 2017. Patients with signs and symptoms of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) were enrolled and submitted sputum for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) smear and Xpert MTB/RIF. This was processed following protocol for pulmonary samples for Xpert MTB/Rif. All samples were processed for AFB smear and Xpert MTB/RIF as part of the procedure for PTB diagnosis.

Results A total of 300 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age ± SD is 37.11 ± 15.27 years. One hundred and thirty five (45.0%) of them are males while one hundred and sixty five (55.0%) are females. Xpert MTB/RIF has a sensitivity of 93.0% and specificity of 98.5%. The main factor associated with tuberculosis treatment outcome was the site of infection (χ² = 19.01, df = 1, p = 0.001) as 233 (77.7%) of the patients were declared cured after six month treatment course.

Conclusion Use of Xpert MTB/RIF as a screening tool has a great performance for rapid diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis might effectively reduce the risk of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in HIV care and treatment settings and improve the prognosis of affected patients.

Disclosure No significant relationships.