Investigating co-infection of COVID -۱۹ and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND AND ABJECTIVEDuring the pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-۱۹), many patients around the world, including Iran, were affected by this virus (۱, ۲). Tuberculosis also causes many deaths every year. There is limited evidence of an interaction between COVID -۱۹ and pulmonary tuberculosis (۳, ۴). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of simultaneous infection of these two pathogens in Kashan city.MATERIALS AND METHODSFrom July ۲۰۱۹ to February ۲۰۲۰, ۲۴۰ respiratory clinical samples from suspected tuberculosis cases were referred to the Kashan University of Medical Sciences. All samples were evaluated for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via Ziehl-Neelsen and PCR for ۱۶SrRNA (۵). In addition, the presence of COVID -۱۹ was detected using the RT-PCR kit (۶). Chi-square test was used to check the relationship between variables (significance level = P-value ۰.۰۵).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONOut of ۲۰۰ examined samples, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and coronavirus ۲۰۱۹ infections were detected in ۸۹ and ۱۸۰ samples, respectively. Co-infection was detected in ۱۸ samples. In addition, the findings showed that the risk of death from co-infection was greater than that of pulmonary tuberculosis or COVID-۱۹.CONCLUSIONAlthough the rate of co-infection of pulmonary tuberculosis and COVID -۱۹ was not statistically significant, the results showed that the mortality rate in patients with co-infection is almost ۲ times higher than the mortality rate in people who only had tuberculosis (۷). Therefore, the facilitating effect of COVID -۱۹ on the activation of tuberculosis requires further research.