COVID 19, tuberculosis and HIV: possible associations, think about it more often!

Abstract

Introduction: COVID 19 has rapidly become a pandemic and can be associated with several pathologies. The aim of this work was to report three clinical cases of infection with the new coronavirus associated with tuberculosis/HIV co- infection.

Observation: We report three observations of co-infection COVID 19 – tuberculosis/HIV, involving three male patients aged 18, 39 and 55 years respectively. The diagnoses selected were pleural tuberculous, bacteriology positive pulmonary tuberculosis-VIH. These diagnoses were associated with COVID 19. GeneXpert MTB/RIF positive for both pleural effusions and bascilloscopy positive for parenchymal tuberculosis. HIV serologies were negative for 2 of the patients in the series. All three patients had positive COVID 19 serology.

The treatment of COVID 19 received by these three patients was based primarily on the national protocol: hydroxychloroquine and azitthromycin.

Tuberculosis and HIV were also managed according to the national tuberculosis and HIV protocol. The evolution was favorable for these three patients under the different treatments received.

Conclusion When faced with a picture of respiratory symptoms, in this context of COVID 19, it is important to think about the diagnosis of tuberculosis, and beyond that of HIV which is most frequently associated with tuberculosis.