Work

The prevalence of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis in forensic autopsies in a teaching hospital in South India

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: An autopsy is a valuable tool for finding the cause of death, exploring the clinical diagnosis, documenting unexpected findings, and resolving diagnostic questions. However, this may subject the forensic pathologist and other workers to a wide variety of blood-borne and aerosolized pathogens. Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of illness and death, resulting in infection transmission in the autopsy room. Our objective in this study was to estimate the prevalence of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis among forensic autopsies in a tertiary care hospital in South India. Material and Methods: We identified positive TB cases from acid-fast bacteria staining and culture (Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube and Lowenstein-Jensen medium) out of 380 autopsy cases. Results: = 1). In the bivariate analysis of TB cases, sex, occupation, family history of TB, habit of smoking, BCG vaccine scar, period of hospital stay, and cause of death were potentially significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of TB in forensic autopsy cases were similar to forensic autopsy-based studies, and it was less as compared to the prevalence of TB in the general population.

Source: Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care

DOI: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1412_23

Authors: Ajoy Kumar Ghosh, Vinod Ashok Chaudhari, Noyal Mariya Joseph, Kusa Kumar Shaha

Institutions: Stanley Medical College, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research

Language: English

Topic: Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology

Subfield: Infectious Diseases

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $450