%0 Journal Article
%T CD4+ T-lymphopenia in HIV negative tuberculous patients at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
%A AI Al-Aska
%A AR Al-Anazi
%A SS Al-Subaei
%A MA Al-Hedaithy
%A MA Barry
%A AM Somily
%A F Buba
%A U Yusuf
%A NA Al Anazi
%J European Journal of Medical Research
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2047-783x-16-6-285
%X Tuberculosis remains an infectious disease causing significant morbidity and mortality on a global scale. The fifteenth annual report of the World Health Organization [1] gave an estimate of the global burden of the disease caused by TB in 2009 as follows: 9.4 million new cases, prevalent cases of 14 million and deaths of 1.3 million and 0.38 million among HIV-negative and HIV positive people respectively.The natural course of TB infection is basically determined by the ability of the host's immune system resulting in swift eradication, dormancy or failure, which leads to active disease [2]. Protective immunity to TB in humans relies upon both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells through cell-mediated responses, allowing full eradication or control of infection [3]. The important contribution of CD4+ T- cells is especially obvious in HIV infection which by depletion of these subsets of cells predisposes infected individuals to reactivation of tuberculosis. It had previously been documented that Tb infection itself may cause a CD4 lymphopenia in patients not infected with HIV, sometimes with grave consequences [4]. It had also been demonstrated that the CD4 lymphoenia was potentially reversible with treatment [5]. The aim of this study was to determine CD4 and CD8 values of non-HIV tuberculosis patients at baseline and post treatment periods by flow cytometry.We enrolled a study population of twenty-eight randomly selected non- HIV infected patients with wide spectrum of active tuberculosis seen at the King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), Riyadh over a one-year period. Eligible patients were enrolled based on compatible symptoms of TB and positive My cobacterium tuberculosis based on Ziel-Nielsen smear and/or culture of relevant specimens as determined by the Bactec system and/or Lowenstein-Jensen culture methods. The first control group of matched healthy controls was not infected with Tb confirmed by absence of history suggestive of tuberculosis, negative tuberculin tests and
%U http://www.eurjmedres.com/content/16/6/285