Tuberculosis in the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros in 1995

Tuberculosis is still a major health concern in the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros. An effective nationally organized program has been set up to fight against the disease. It is based on bacteriologic screening (105 new cases of BK+ disease since 1995) and quadruple chemotherapy in patients identified (2RZHE 4RH) with in-hospital starter treatment for 2 months and supervised outpatient treatment for 4 months. Patients are followed up monthly. Because of these measures and given the fact that access to health care is excellent (small island nation), compliance has been over 90% for several years and the overall rate of cure was around 92% in 1995. From an epidemiologic standpoint the endemic status of tuberculosis in the Comoros has been stable with an overall incidence of about 25 cases per 100 000 inhabitants in the last 5 years. Extrapulmonary forms and relapses are uncommon (5.4% and 6.2% respectively in 1995). The incidence of positive HIV1 serology in the general population of the Comoros is low and has not been a complicating factor since no seropositive BK+ patient has been identified since the beginning of systematic surveillance in 1988.