Survey on HIV infection among tuberculosis patients in rural area in Zhejiang province

Objective To explore the prevalence of HIV infection among the patients with tuberculosis (TB) and provide scientific evidence for AIDS/HIV screening among TB patients as a routine work. Methods Ten counties in Zhejiang province were selected by systematic sampling, HIV antibody detection was performed among newly registered TB patients in these counties from 1 September, 2008 to 31 January, 2009. Results There were 1765 newly registered TB patients during this period, and 1714 patients were volunteer to have HIV test (97.11%), 3 were anti-HIV positive, the positive rate was 1.75. Conclusion HIV infection occurred among some TB patients in Zhejiang province and it is necessary to conduct routine AIDS/HIV screening among TB patients.