Sammendrag
The aim this survey was to characterize the population of active tuberculosis in our hospital. We wanted to characterize the current anatomical presentation of tuberculosis in a Nordic centre, the demographic characteristics, the impact of underlying predisposing conditions such as HIV and other immunodeficiency, the magnitude of drug resistance and the clinical outcome in our practice. The patients were selected after searching the hospital records, in the period 01.01.2005-31.08.2008. 124 patients were included in the study.
Tuberculosis currently presents itself though infection in most organs; most patients do not only have pulmonary infection. Foreign born patients dominated the patient group, and resistant tuberculosis was found only among foreign born patients. The relatively few Norwegian born patients were older and more often had predisposing immunodeficiency.
Overall, this patient group had experienced long periods of hospitalization and treatment. This represents a great burden both to patients and the society.