Tuberculosis y SIDA en Cuba: Estudio de dos series de casos

objective: analysis of groups of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids) and tuberculosis (tb) diagnosed before and after the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (haart) in cuba. methods: chart analysis of 149 cases with aids and tb. series i, 72 cases (january 1997-march 2001, before haart). series ii, 77 cases (may 2001-june 2004, after haart); all the patients were discharged from the "instituto de medicina tropical 'pedro kourí" in havana, cuba. results and conclusions: there was a predominance of young (30-33ys) males in both series; 58.3% and 57.1% of cases classified as aids at the appearance of tb; tb was the first indicator of aids in 64.9% of cases in series ii; 54.5% of cases in series ii and 36.4% in series i had < 200 cd4 + tl cells, probably related to better immunologic status. clinical profile was similar; fever of uknown origin, nocturnal sweats, dyspnea and regional lymphadenopathies were more frequent in series ii. amongst tb cases, pulmonary disease was more frequent (79.2% and 75.3%, respectively); 9 cases (11.7%) of series ii had disseminated tb. diffuse basal and mediastinal shadows and negative chest x rays were more frequent; there was no correlation between the counts of cd4+ tl cells and the clinical and radiological forms of tb. series ii had a lower invadence of positive sputum smears and positive cultures and a higher incidence of positive intradermal reaction to tuberculin and positive tissue diagnoses for tb.