Introduction: The main health problem of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is tuberculosis which is a communicable phenomenon. With increasing the population of elderly society and the prevalance of AIDS around the world, unusual manifestations of tuberculosis are seen in the both developed and developing countries. Therefore monitoring
and clinical assessing of response to the treatment to get the decision to continue, change or cut the treatment is very a vital point. Relative frequency of response to the treatment also is a very important issue from points of decreasing the patient complains and clinical signs over a period of time. Therefore the ability to draw the clinical response patterns to the variety treatments, including correct treatments of tuberculosis, in the different stages of the treatment process is a very important issue to eliminate the disease.
Methods: In this cross - sectional study, results of clinical response to treatment of 201 cases with pulmonary tuberculosis were extracted from Ahvaz Razi hospital infectious sector, during 2001 to early 2004. Total 53 files of 201cases were checked out (according to the common protocol at least 2 positive smears). The files were considered from point of clinical symptoms (fever, coughing, night sweatings, sputum, hemoptysis, anorexia, chills, weakness, dyspnea ) using daily notes of the intern and resident medicine students and nurses since starting the medications until 5,10 and 14 days after finishing the cure. Results: All of the patients had coughing. Frequency of the other symptoms were as : 97.6% fever, 93% anorexia, 86% sputum, 72% Weakness and night sweating, 69.7% fatigue, 44.1% chill, 34.8% dyspenea and18.6% hemoptysis.
Conclution: The severity of fever, anorexia and chill which have been subsided earlier than the other symptoms, 5, 10 and 14 days after the treatment are used as an index to monitor the response of treatment the tuberculosis.