Abstract

Awoke Derbie1*andDaniel Mekonnen1

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the world’s deadliest communicable diseases, responsible for ill-health among millions of people each year. Early detection and management of the diseaseis crucialto reduce associated burdens.Cross-sectional survey was conducted from November2014to February2015at Bahir Darhealth centre. Sputum sampleswerecollected stained with Ziehl Neelsenstainingtechniqueand examined microscopically. Data were analysed by using SPSSfor Windows and descriptivestatistics was used to present figures.Of 103 study subjects, the majority70(67.9%) were males.The mean age of the participants was 36.1 years. The overall prevalence of smear positive tuberculosis was 7 (6.8%). Relatively higher smear positive tuberculosis was observed among males, illiterates, older age groups, family size 5-10, cigarette smokersand alcohol drinkers. Althoughthe numbers of study subjects werequite limitedto draw strong conclusions, the observed prevalence calls upthe stakeholders to undertake prevention and control measures.