Upholding Tuberculosis Services during the 2014 Ebola Storm: An Encouraging Experience from Conakry, Guinea

• Published in: PloS one 2016-08, Vol.11 (8), p.e0157296-e0157296
• Main Authors: Ortuno-Gutierrez, Nimer, Zachariah, Rony, Woldeyohannes, Desalegn, Bangoura, Adama, Chérif, Gba-Foromo, Loua, Francis, Hermans, Veerle, Tayler-Smith, Katie, Sikhondze, Welile, Camara, Lansana-Mady
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; AIDS; Biology and life sciences; Cohort Studies; Coinfection - epidemiology; Comparative analysis; Contingency; Control; Cotrimoxazole; Disease Management; Disease Outbreaks; Ebola hemorrhagic fever; Ebola virus; Ebolavirus; Epidemics; Fatalities; Female; Guinea; Guinea - epidemiology; Health aspects; Health care facilities; Health facilities; Health Planning; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - epidemiology; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - prevention & control; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - therapy; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infection control; Infection Control - methods; Infections; Lentivirus; Lung diseases; Male; Management; Medical care; Medical diagnosis; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methods; Motivation; Mycobacterium; Occupational health; Outbreaks; Patients; People and Places; Preventive Health Services - methods; Retrospective Studies; Tropical diseases; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - prevention & control; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - therapy; Viral diseases; Viruses; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157296

Ten targeted health facilities supported by Damien Foundation (a Belgian Non Governmental Organization) and the National Tuberculosis (TB) Program in Conakry, Guinea. To uphold TB program performance during the Ebola outbreak in the presence of a package of pre-emptive additional measures geared at reinforcing the routine TB program, and ensuring Ebola infection control, health-workers safety and motivation. A retrospective comparative cohort study of a TB program assessing the performance before (2013) and during the (2014) Ebola outbreak. During the Ebola outbreak, all health facilities were maintained opened, there were no reported health-worker Ebola infections, drug stockouts or health staff absences. Of 2,475 presumptive pulmonary TB cases, 13% were diagnosed with TB in both periods (160/1203 in 2013 and 163/1272 in 2014). For new TB, treatment success improved from 84% before to 87% during the Ebola outbreak (P = 0.03). Adjusted Hazard-ratios (AHR) for an unfavorable outcome was alwo lower during the Ebola outbreak, AHR = 0.8, 95% CI:0.7-0.9, P = 0.04). Treatment success improved for HIV co-infected patients (72% to 80%, P