The primary aims of tuberculosis (TB) control programmes is early diagnosis and prompt treatment of
infectious cases to limit transmission. Failure to diagnose and adequately treat TB could lead to premature
death and unrecognized transmission of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
. The proportion of missed TB cases has not
been reported in Tanzania. The objective of this study was to quantify the number of cases of TB identified by
autopsy. Deceased morbid bodies from Muhimbili National Hospital were involved. Retrieval of admission,
diagnostic and other important records used to manage the patient after admission was done. Demographic
information, site and type of disease, past medical history, chest x-ray report, clinical diagnosis and cause of
death reported upon death certification were recorded. Lung tissues, lymphnodes and blood clots for HIV
testing were collected. Biopsy tissues were processed through Ziehl Nielsen staining and examined by
microscopy. The study involved 74 deceased individuals where 56 (75.7%) were males. Information for duration
of seeking health care before death was available for 41(55.4%) subjects. Thirty-four (45.9%) cases received
diagnosis before death. The main diagnoses were pneumonia 10(13.5%), heart failure 6(8.1%), AIDS-related
illnesses 6 (6.8%) and malaria 5 (6.8%). The main clinical findings were wasting (51/74 (68.9%)) and abnormal fluid
collection in different body cavities, 61(50.8%). In 24 out of 71(33.8%) biopsies acid fast bacilli (AFB) were
detected. Records of lymphnodes examination were available in 63 cases and 22 of them had AFB. Twenty-two
(34.9%) from the paratracheal and hilar lymphnodes were observed to have AFB. HIV was detected by ELISA in
19 (33.3%) out of 57 deceased, and 12 (63.2%) of the HIV positive deceased were co-infected with TB. Out of the
22 cases positive for AFB on tissue-biopsies 12 (54.5%) were HIV positive. There is a high number of TB cases
diagnosed after death that could not be detected before they died. There is a need for increased awareness and
to include postmortem data in the annual statistics of TB for precise reporting of the magnitude of the TB
burden in the country.
