Smear Positive Tuberculosis amongst Suspects Reported to DOTS Corner of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh.

: Sputum microscopy still remains the primary tool for the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis. A retrospective study was conducted in the directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) corner of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH), in Bangladesh from May 2013 to May 2014. The study was designed to evaluate the extent of smear positive microscopy including multi-drug resistance (MDR) amongst tuberculosis suspected cases. A total of 2,361 Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) suspects were noticed to DOTS corner during this period, with the mean age of 43 years. The male female ratio was 2.02:1 and the smear positivity rate was about 10%. Study found majority of the suspects were in the economically productive year of life 20-70 years. Smear negative suspects were not re-evaluated further, though smear negativity does not rule out absence of tuberculosis. Extra pulmonary or non tuberculous mycobacteria were not evaluated in this study. Twenty two patients 0.9% of total 2361 were identified as MDR during the study period where 61 clinically highly suspected cases were sent for GeneXpert that seems to be much lesser than the national rate (3.6% in new cases and 19% in retreated cases). The smear positivity rate of all three (1st, 2nd and 3rd) smear was 94.5%, all the second smear was 100% positive and the third were 95.47% positive. It is evident from this study that two smear microscopy was found sufficiently reliable to diagnose TB. However, further in depth prospective study might be undertaken to ascertain the scenario of this chronic diseases.