The Prevalence of Tuberculosis among BCG Vaccinated Individuals at the North West Region of Cameroon

Aims: This study focuses as it main objective to determine the effectiveness of early BCG vaccination in preventing tuberculosis.

Study Design: It was a cross sectional descriptive study. The study population being all early BCG vaccinated individuals.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out from March to June 2017 at the Saint Elizabeth General Hospital Shisong, situated in Kumbo Town (Bui Division), North West region of Cameroon.

Methodology: It was based on the administration of a structured questionnaire to all early BCG vaccinated individuals. Biological data were obtained from sputum collected from participants. Sputum was analyzed using Xpert MTB/RIF assay which simultaneously detects MTB-complex and rifampin resistance strain by amplifying and identifying a MTB-complex specific sequence of the rpoB gene.

Results: This finding shows an overall prevalence of 13.08% on early BCG vaccinated individuals seeking medical care at the Saint Elizabeth General Hospital Shisong. The prevalence of TB in HIV positive subjects was 22.05%. The occurrence was high among HIV subjects not living on ART, 6 (33.33%) against 3 (13%) in HIV subject on ART. This study also showed that male patients 11 (15.94%) developed TB compared to female patients 3 (7.89%). The rate of infection, 9 (28.13%) occurring within the age range of > 28 - 38 associated to the development of TB with no correlation. Drinking habit was found to be associated with the development of TB with weak correlation and the occurrence of TB do not seem to be associated drinking duration.

Conclusion: These results show the necessity of the application of a suitable measure to prevent TB in adults, especially those at high risk of developing the disease irrespective of early childhood BCG vaccination status.