Studies on the Co-infectivity of HIV and Atypical Mycobacteria in Nsukka Local Government Areas of Enugu State

The increasing worldwide rate of tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has been attributed to immunosuppresion because of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) plague. The lack of data on the contribution of NTM to mycobacterial infections in Africa including Nigeria has anyway been firmly connected with constrained research facility culture for its disengagement and identification. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that primarily affects lungs causing pulmonary tuberculosis but can also affect meninges, intestine, bones, lymph nodes, skin and other tissues of the body. Worldwide, tuberculosis causes 2.9 million deaths annually (WHO, 1998). An estimated two billion persons are currently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other Mycobacterium species. The rates of increase are even greater in developing countries, primarily because of increased immigration of people from regions of high endemicity, declining socio-economic conditions in densely populated cities and the increasing number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals (Szabo, 1990). The total number of tuberculosis cases on the Global is expanding and the HIV pestilence is ensnared for this this increased incidence and an expected 3,000,000 people with tuberculosis overall also have AIDS.