Background: Tuberculosis is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health, one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, even ranking above human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV/AIDS). Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated risk factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) suspects attending at Ataye District Hospital from October 1, 2018, to February 30, 2019. Methodology: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 presumptive tuberculosis patients at Ataye District Hospital. Sputum was processed by MTB/RIF Xpert assay. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1 software and exported to SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) for analysis. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Variables that show significance at P-value of 0.3 during univariate analysis were selected for multivariable analysis. A P-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. Results: Out of the total study participants, about 60% were male, and 39% were aged between 18 and 24 years. Of the total 423 PTB suspected patients, 38 (8.98%) of them were identified as having PTB by GeneXpert and 2/38 (5.3%) were resistant to rifampicin and 3/38 (7.89%) patients were co-infected with HIV. Participant age between 18 and 24 years and between 25 and 34 years, weight loss, chest pain, having contact history with confirmed PTB cases, utilization of congested transportation, and a history of imprisonment were significantly associated with the prevalence of PTB. Conclusion: A considerable prevalence of PTB in the area was observed and the magnitude of MDR-TB was low. PTB is still a public health problem in Ethiopia and there is a need for collaborative prevention and control activities in the study area.

Background Hematological reference intervals (RIs) are affected by inherent variables like age, sex, genetic background, environment, diet and certain circumstances such as pregnancy signifying the need for population specific values. This study was designed to establish RIs for common hematological parameters of apparently healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women from Northeast Ethiopia. Method This community based cross-sectional study recruited 600 pregnant and non-pregnant women in South Wollo Zone, Northeast Ethiopia from June to August 2019. Complete blood count was performed for eligible participants using Mindary BC-3000 plus hematology analyzer. The mean, median, and 2.5th and 97.5th percentile reference limits with 90% CI were determined using SPSS version 23. Result The established selected 2.5th–97.5th percentiles RIs for pregnant women were: WBC: 4.0–13.2x109/L; RBC: 3.45–4.67x1012/L; Hgb: 10.1–13.7g/dL; HCT: 33.5–46.5%; MCV: 85-104fL; MCH: 27.5–33.0pg; MCHC: 30.3–33.7g/dL and Platelet count: 132-373x109/L. The respective values for non-pregnant women were 3.6–10.3; 4.44–5.01; 12.4–14.3; 38.4–50.1; 86–102; 27.1–32.4, 30.4–34.1, 173–456. A statistically significant difference between pregnant and non-pregnant women was noted in all hematological parameters except MCHC. The mean and median value of WBC count, MCV, MPV and PDW increased, whereas mean values of HCT and Platelet count decreased as gestational period advances. Conclusion The observed difference from other studies signify the necessity for using trimester specific RIs and separate RI for pregnant and non-pregnant women. Thus, we recommend the health facilities in the study area to utilize the currently established RIs for pregnant and non-pregnant women for better care.

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