Clinical and laboratory profile of patients with tuberculosis/HIV coinfection at a national referral centre: a case series.

This case series describes the clinical and laboratory profile of 15 patients with tuberculosis (TB) HIV coinfection admitted to a referral centre in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most of the patients (13) were male; the mean age was 36.9 years. Intravenous drug use was the route of transmission for all males and heterosexual intercourse for the 2 females; 12 patients had a history of imprisonment. All patients had pulmonary TB; 13 were smear-positive and all except 1 had atypical radiological presentation. Drug-induced hepatitis occurred in 3 patients and 12 had hepatitis C coinfection. Five patients died. The mean CD4 count was 229.2 (SD 199.5) cells/mm3 and 78.6% had CD4 count < 350. TB may be an AIDS-defining illness in this country.