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Our aim was to describe the frequency of HIV infection among patients with tuberculosis and compare their characteristics with patients with TB but not infected with HIV. Patients with cough >3 weeks duration attending 8 hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria were screened with smear microscopy and culture and tested for HIV. Chest X-rays were graded by 2 readers. 731 (62%) of 1186 patients had positive cultures and 353 (48%) of these 731 patients were smear positive. 1002 (85%) patients were tested for HIV and 546 (55%) were positive. 53% (329/625) of the culture positive patients and 58% (217/377) of the culture negative patients were HIV positive. Anorexia, weight loss, low BMI (<18.5), haemoglobin (<11 gm/dl) and albumin and high ESR and liver enzymes were more frequently observed among patients with TB coinfected with HIV than in patients without HIV. Coinfected patients had less cavitations and lung involvement on X-rays than patients without HIV. In conclusion, the prevalence of HIV is very high among patients with TB in Abuja, Nigeria. The presence of HIV decreases the sensitivity of smear microscopy and complicates the diagnosis of TB. Selected clinical and laboratory parameters could be used to identify individuals with TB who are likely to be coinfected with HIV.

Background: During pregnancy, many women suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms which they hardly report to their care providers. Measuring the prevalence of these symptoms has been difficult because of lack of uniform nomenclature and standardized tool. The updated nomenclature and the new ICIQ-FLUTS questionnaire offer an opportunity for assessment of these symptoms especially in developing countries. Objective: This study aimed to establish the prevalence of bothersome lower urinary symptoms among pregnant women in Zaria, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire on Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-FLUTS) was administered by trained interviewers to 204 consenting pregnant women aged 15 to 42 years who were attending Antenatal care (ANC) at a tertiary health facility in Zaria, Nigeria. Results: Storage phase symptoms (nocturia, urgency, daytime frequency and painful bladder) were common among respondents. Of these, nocturia was the commonest with 94.1% of the respondents reporting it. Voiding symptoms (hesitancy, straining to pass urine and interrupted stream) were also found. Interrupted stream was the commonest of these, occurring in 8.3% of respondents. Incontinence; stress (13.7%), urge (9.8%) and enuresis (1%) were found among the respondents. Conclusions: These findings show that diverse, bothersome forms of lower urinary tract symptoms are experienced by pregnant women in this environment and the ICIQ-FLUTS questionnaire is a helpful tool in identifying these symptoms.

Introduction and aim: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide. Diabetics with autonomic neuropathy tend to have larger gallbladder (GB) with poor contraction after fatty meals predisposing them to gallstones and cholecystitis. This may be prevented and treated if detected early using ultrasound. This study sonographically evaluated the GB in adults with type 2 diabetes and compared the findings with a non-diabetic age and sex-matched control group.Methods: In this case-control study, 120 patients with type 2 diabetes and 120 non-diabetic controls between the ages of 18 and 80 years at National Hospital Abuja had their GB evaluated after eight hours of overnight fast using B-mode ultrasound. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) and presented in tables.Result: There were 60 males and 60 females with mean ages of 53.3 and 52 years for the cases and controls, respectively. The average fasting gallbladder volume (FGBV) in diabetics (34.51 + 3.16cm 3 ) was higher than that of controls (27.17 + 1.25cm 3 ). Eleven (9.2%) diabetics had gallstone (GS), while none was detected in controls. The GB wall thickness was significantly higher in diabetics than in the controls (0.28 ± 0.06 cm vs 0.25 ± 0.04 cm).Conclusion: A significant proportion of type 2 diabetics had higher FGBV, GB wall thickness, and presence of gallstone compared to the non-diabetic controls. B-mode ultrasound is a very important non-invasive and accurate tool for detecting these changes early.

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