Important co-morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus in three clinics in Western Kenya

SETTING

Diabetes clinics in three hospitals in Western Kenya: Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and two associated district hospitals.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the proportion of diabetes patients with a history of tuberculosis (  TB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV  ) infection and tobacco smoking.

DESIGN

A descriptive study using routinely collected data from patient records in the three diabetes clinics.

RESULTS

Of 1376 patients analyzed, 750 (55%) were female. The mean age of the patients in the clinics was 53.5 years (95%CI 52.2-54.8), with an average duration of diabetes of 8.1 years (95%CI 7.6-8.7). Of all patients, 5.6% reported a history of TB, similar to the frequency about 20 years earlier (1990) in Tanzania. Only 30% of the patients reported knowing their HIV status; 6% were HIV-positive. A history of tobacco smoking was reported by 3.8% of the patients.

CONCLUSION

The HIV epidemic does not seem to have significantly changed the relationship between TB and diabetes mellitus (DM) in this cohort of diabetes patients. The frequency of HIV and TB in this special population was comparable to that in the general population, and only a small proportion of patients reported a history of tobacco smoking.

Identical genotype B3 sequences from measles patients in 4 countries, 2005

Surveillance of measles virus detected an epidemiologic link between a refugee from Kenya and a Dutch tourist in New Jersey, USA. Identical genotype B3 sequences from patients with contemporaneous cases in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in November and December 2005 indicate that Kenya was likely to have been the common source of virus.