Prevalence of Tuberculosis Among Dairy Farm Workers in Addis Ababa and Its Suburbs
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Date
2011-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Dairy farm workers (DFWs) are at the interface between the inter-transmission of human tuberculosis (TB) to cattle and zoonotic TB to humans. DFWs in and around Addis Ababa work in settings where the overall individual animal and herd prevalence of TB are reported to be 33% and 57% respectively.
Objective: The main objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of TB and associated factors among DFW’s in Addis Ababa and the surrounding suburban areas.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among DFWs in Addis Ababa and the 5 main suburban districts by using a structured and pretested questionnaire to collect the data. Individuals with symptom complex of TB were subjected to meticulous physical examination, radiographic and laboratory investigations. Samples were collected for bacteriologic analysis and inoculated on to Lowenstein Jensen culture media followed by genus typing, all at Armauer Hansen Research Institute. Field and laboratory data were double entered, cleaned and verified using Access, 2007; analysis was done using SPSS software version 16. We computed the adjusted odds ratios, the 95% CI and p-values at a significance level of <0.05 by using logistic
regression. Ethical clearance and written informed consents were obtained before data collection.
Results: A total of 256 voluntary participants were included. Out of these, 12 TB suspects and 3 DFW TB cases were identified. The prevalence of TB among DFWs was found to be 1.172 %. DFWs who consumed raw animal products were about 4 times more likely to manifest the symptom complex of TB than those consuming cooked products (AOR= 3.8, 95 % CI: 1.08- 13.29, P=0.03). Only 20.3% DFWs knew the main routes of transmission of TB between humans and cattle. DFWs who had knowledge about the routes of transmission of TB were found to be 3.7 times more likely to have the symptom complex of TB compared to those who do not know the routes of transmission of TB (AOR=3.7, 95 % CI: 1.12 - 12.23, p=0.03).
Conclusions and Recommendations: Our analysis revealed the prevalence of TB among DFWs in Addis Ababa and its suburbs to be 2.4 times higher than the national average; policy makers and stakeholders need to design a program aiming early DFW TB case detection and prevention of spread of TB to all susceptible hosts.
Key words: Dairy farm, M. tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, M. bovis, Tuberculosis
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Keywords
Dairy farm, M. tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, M. bovis, Tuberculosis