a study on clinical signs of tuberculosis patients in urmia

a study on clinical signs of tuberculosis patients in urmia a gholami , bsc l moosavi jahromi ,bsc received: 11 aug, 2009 accepted: 25 oct, 2009 abstract background & aims: tuberculosis is a major health problem worldwide, especially in developing countries. the warning signs of pulmonary tuberculosis are chronic cough with sputum that is usually accompanied by bloody sputum, and sometimes the symptoms may include fever, asthma, weight loss, etc. the aim of the current study was to study the clinical signs of tuberculosis patients in urmia city during 2004-2007. materials & methods: in this analytic cross-sectional study 248 tuberculosis patients (151 with positive smear and 97 with negative smear) were included. the required data were gathered from the records of patients. spss 16 was used to analyze the data. results: there is a significant difference between positive smear patients and negative smear patients related to symptoms such as coughing, mucus existence, and sweating (p<0.05) but no significant difference in the symptoms fever, weight loss, asthma and bloody mucus (p>0.05). conclusion: among the investigated clinical symptoms no significant differences between patients with tb smear positive and negative. thus when the person suspected with smear negative it is necessary to be followed in tb smear negative not relying on only negative of smear test result. keywords: pulmonary tuberculosis, clinical diagnosis, positive smear, negative smear address: epidemiology department, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran tel: (+98) 09155105801 email: [email protected]