ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis is a public health problem in Ethiopia and is one of the major causes of deaths. The present study is aiming at the clinic-pathological interpretation of tuberculosis cervical lymphadenopathy and to apply cheap methods to confirm the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis acid fast bacilli in the lymphoid tissues. Sixty cases with cervical lymphadenitis were included, clinical data was obtained from the medical records. Hematoxylin and Eosin staining was done to evaluate the morphological criteria of tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis also the specimens were studied for recognizing the Acid Fast Bacilli. In our study the positive presence of the Acid Fast Bacilli showed a significant statistical associations with the presence of pulmonary tuberculosis; caseation necrosis and HIV serologically positive [p=0.00001, 0.0082 and 0.0272 respectively]; meanwhile there was no significant associations with the age, sex of patient or the family history of tuberculosis [p=0.2011, 0.2330 and 0.2276 respectively]. We conclude that the Iight microscopic assessment is a useful screening method to diagnose tuberculosis in cases of cervical lymphadenitis; moreover, the efficacy of diagnosis was improved when combined with identifying the infecting organism. The procedure in the present study is a cheap reliable method that can he useful in the diagnosis of tuberculosis lymphadenitis and also it can help] in the proper therapeutic approach