Histological and Epidemiological study on Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Nineveh Governorate

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a common infection especially in developing countries and can involve almost all bodily systems. Iraq has been identified as middle TB burden country in the world. The aims of the study are to determine the main factors that lead to prevalence of TB in people living in Nineveh governorate, to study the histopathological effect of M. tuberculosis on the tissues. The objective of epidemiological study is to find the relationship between M. tuberculosis and age, sex, education level, occupation, type of TB and sectors of people living in Nineveh governorate. This study included 100 patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( 51 males and 49 females ) the age of the patients ranged from 1–75 years through the period from september 2010 to september 2011. In order to determine the main factors that lead to TB infection, data collected from all 100 patients infected with TB. Tissue sections were taken from patients with active TB from (lung, lymph node and breast mass) and fixed in (10%) formaldehyde and (4µm) paraffin blocks sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin or Ziehl Neelsen stain for histopathological examination. Data for epidemiological study of patients diagnosed with TB were collected from consultant clinic for chest and respiratory diseases in Nineveh governorate over a 16-year period (1994-2010). The results showed that The main factors that lead to TB infection were diabetes with a percentage of (25%) of the patients, followed by smoking with a percentage of (20%) . Changes in the tissues infected with tuberculosis is the formation of tuberculous granulomas .The result of epidemiological study showed that the number of Tuberculosis cases in Nineveh governorate increased between 1994-2002 and decreased between 2002-2010. The number of TB cases in males is more than in females . The main age groups infected with TB was the productive ages (15-34 years). Pulmonary TB is more than Extrapulmonary TB .The highest percentage of TB in sectors of Nineveh governorate (25%) for each of left sector and right sector, followed by (13.7%) in Sinjar.