[ role of private laboratories in Tuberculosis detection, Tehran/ Iran [SGS02/85]]

ABSTRACT

To study the role of the private sector in detection and diagnosis of tuberculosis suspected cases by referring to the private labs. This Cross sectional study was performed to evaluate all cases referring to 4 private labs for AFB examination during 2002-3. The total number of referred cases and the positivity ratio were calculated. A total of 9037 were enrolled into our study, 44.9% being female and 55.1% being male. The two peak ages of patients were 15-25 yrs and >65 yrs and the majority of the patients were Iranians [98.6%]. As a whole, 637 cases had positive examination results [7.1%], among which 531[5.9%] cases were direct smear positive and 489[5.4%] culture positive. This is comparable to data given by MOH, where the total number of cases referred to governmental labs in the Tehran urban area, during the period of study was 9479, including 7850[82.8%] Iranians and 208[2.2%] being positive. A larger than expected proportion of TB patients are detected and [managed] by the private sector which indicates that a much more intimate cooperation should develop between the public and private sectors