| Summary: | Abstract Background Tuberculosis continues to be a health problem of both developed and developing countries, and its incidence has currently increased due to HIV induced immune suppression. HIV-co-infection decreases the total number of CD4+ T cells since the virus preferentially replicates with in activated CD4+ T cells and macrophages, resulting in the disruption of granuloma to contain M. tuberculosis. In this study, we investigated the change in T lymphocyte subpopulations before and after anti-tubercular treatment and the effect of intestinal parasites on the cell populations of tuberculosis patients before the initiation of anti TB treatment. Method A prospective cohort study was conducted in the outpatient TB Clinic, University of Gondar hospital between January 2014 and August 2015. Blood samples were collected from 80 newly diagnosed TB patients with and without HIV co-infection. The mean CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte counts of the patients were assessed before and after the course of anti-TB treatment. The mean values of T lymphocytes of TB, TB/HIV co-infected patients and of the control groups were compared. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16 and the graph pad prism software. Results A total of 80 tuberculosis patients 40 of whom were co-infected with HIV participated in our study. The mean CD4 + T lymphocytes counts of the TB/HIV cohort were 354.45 ± 138cell/μl, and the mean CD8+ cell counts were 926.82 ± 384cell/μl. There were significant changes in the mean CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts after the course of anti-TB treatment in both groups of patients(p < 0.05). However, no statistically significant differences were observed in the mean CD4 + and CD8+ T cell counts of helminthes infected and non-infected patients (P > 0.05). Conclusion We found significantly lower CD4+ T cell counts among TB infected HIV negative patients compared with controls who showed that TB was the cause of non–HIV-associated declination of circulating CD4 counts, and the reduction was reversible with anti-tubercular treatment in both HIV-negative and ART naïve TB-HIV co-infected patients.
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