RESUMO
Identifying cases of pulmonary TB and their prompt treatment is an effective tool in order to control TB. Chronic cough is an important sign for screening tuberculosis. This study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of tuberculosis in patients with chronic cough. In this cross sectional study, 546 suspicious patients with chronic cough were evaluated by preparing sputum smear and culture and chest radiography, when appropriate. Of 546 cases, 53.7% were male and 46.3% were female. Totally, 80 [15.6%] had smearpositive pulmonary TB, 39 [7.7%] had smear-negative pulmonary TB, and 427 [77.7%] had other diagnosis or were improved cases following antibiotic therapy. Results have revealed that 15% of sputum cultures were positive for acid fast bacilli that is quite higher than other reports, therefore, patients who are referred with chronic cough and do not respond to antibiotic, should be advised to perform sputum culture and chest radiography