A total of 40 women were recruited for this study. The mean age of our study population was 37 ± 17.5 years, with extremes of 16 and 73 years. The ]20 - 40] age group was the most represented with a proportion of 52.5%, followed by the ]40 - 60] age group with 20% ( Table 1 ). Married participants were the most numerous with a proportion of 62.5%.

The overall rate of tuberculosis infection in our female population was 65% and 40% were married ( Table 2 ) with a p-value of 0.02. HIV prevalence was 7.5% in this study population.

Among infected patients, the age group most represented was that between ]20 - 40] with 32.5% in this study population. Housewives were the most infected with 22.5%. Patients with at least one child had a higher infection rate of 40%, a p-value of 0.02 and an OR of 0.7. In our study 22.5% of the women had no formal education. Of the suspected cases, 32.5% were contacts.

Regarding the clinical appearance of the patients ( Table 3 ), 55% reported weight loss, 50% had a chronic cough, 42.5% had chest pain, 45% of the women were anorexic and 60% had asthenia. Those with night sweats represented 15%, with a statically significant p-value of 0.01 and an odd ratio of 1.10.

The overall rate of tuberculosis infection in our female population was 65% and HIV prevalence was 7.5%. The rate of co-infection with tuberculosis and HIV in our study population was 5% ( Table 4 ).

Cough and weight loss were the most predominant clinical signs in these cases of co-infection ( Table 5 ). The correlation of co-infection with anorexia gave a statically significant result with a p-value of 0.02 and an OR of 0.00.

TB: tuberculosis.

Of the patients recruited, 30% were selected for this study. The sample consisted mainly of women, as the aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of tuberculosis and co-infection with HIV in women. The frequency of the female gender in our study is consistent with that of Zida et al. in 2014 (28.8%) and with the literature, because women are indeed less infected than men, according to the World Health Organization (WHO 2023). In 2020, 33% of women worldwide were infected with tuberculosis [1] .

The mean age of our study population was 37 ± 17.5 years with extremes of 16 and 73 years. This mean age was higher than that of Dagnra and colleagues in Togo [5] and Wa Ilunga and colleagues in Lubumbashi in 2015 [6] , who had mean ages of 35 ± 2 years and 32.84 ± 15.32 years respectively. It was lower than that of Abessolo Abessolo et al. in Yaoundé in 2023 [3] , who had a mean age of 42.34 ± 0.60 years. The average age of our patients was in line with that of Zida et al. in Burkina Faso [7] and Kabore et al. in Mali [8] , who had an average age of 37.8 ± 15.4 years and 37.2 years respectively. Generally reported in the literature, tuberculosis affects adults because most young people have been immunised with the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine at birth.

The overall tuberculosis infection rate was 65% in our study. This result was higher than those of Lupande et al. in 2012 in Congo, who reported a prevalence of 16.4%, and those of Zida et al. in 2014 in Burkina Faso, who reported a prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis of 27.7% in women. Our results can be explained by the fact that our study population consisted exclusively of women and by the explosion in new cases of tuberculosis in our countries. This explosion in new cases can be explained by the displacement of populations due to terrorism and promiscuity.

The age group most infected with tuberculosis was the ]20 - 40] age group, with 32.5%. This result is consistent with those found by several other authors [3] [7] [8] . This could be explained by the fact that Burkina Faso’s population is young and not ageing. The majority of our study population were married (35%). Housewives were the most infected with 27.5%. Married people were more infected with 40% and a statistically significant p-value of 0.02. This trend could be explained by the fact that non-working women do not have sufficient access to tuberculosis education. As men are generally more affected by tuberculosis, married women could have been infected by their spouses.

Patients with at least one child had a higher rate of infection of 40% compared with x% for those without children. This result was statically significant with a p-value of 0.02 and an OR of 0.7, which could mean that having children reduces the risk of non-contagion of tuberculosis. Of the suspected cases, 32.5% were contacts. This could be explained by the fact that tuberculosis is essentially transmitted from person to person, and by the fact that people live in close proximity [9] .

Our patients showed the clinical signs that are generally encountered in the literature. Fifty-five per cent reported weight loss, 50% had a chronic cough and 42.5% had chest pain. 45% of the women were anorexic and 60% had asthenia. All these symptoms contributed to the deterioration in patients’ general condition. Night sweats accounted for 15%, with a statically significant P-value of 0.01 and an odds ratio of 1.10. This could mean that those who had night sweats as a symptom were more likely to have tuberculosis as a disease.

In 2020, the global prevalence of HIV-TB co-infection was 8% [1] . The proportion of TB cases co-infected with HIV was highest in countries in the WHO African Region, exceeding 50% in some parts of southern Africa [1] . The frequency of tuberculosis co-infection with HIV was 5% in our patients and concerned patients aged between ]20 - 40]. Patients aged ]20 - 40] are the most sexually active and often use HIV prevention methods incorrectly. This rate of co-infection is higher than that reported by Kolamou and collaborators, showing a prevalence of 1.37% among women in Guinea [10] . The prevalence of co-infection in women was higher than in men (1.18%). In terms of gender, women are more exposed to HIV-TB co-infection, as HIV is more prevalent among women [6] . Meda et al. in 2014 also reported the same trends for females [11] . Kolamou et al. also observed that the rate of TB-HIV co-infection progressed in a sawtooth pattern over the years [10] . However, our co-infection rate is lower than those reported by Dangra et al. in Togo, Meda and Zida et al. in Burkina Faso, which were 23.7%, 13.8% and 12.2% [5] [7] [11] . Meda et al. reported significantly higher results for women with p = 0.02. Fiogbé et al., in their 5-year study in Benin reported a predominance of TB-HIV co-infection in women with a rate of 56.7% [12] . These differences in prevalence rates may be due to the sampling method, collection time, sample size and the implementation of prevention programmes. However, in 2023 in Yaoundé, Abessolo Abessolo et al. found a co-infection rate of 60.4% [3] . This large difference is due to his sampling, which lasted 4 years and he only included confirmed cases of tuberculosis in his study.

Cough and weight loss were the most predominant clinical signs in these cases of co-infection. Our results are consistent with those of Abessolo Abessolo et al., and Kabore et al., who also found a predominance of weight loss and cough [3] [8] . Our results corroborate those of Ammouri et al. in Morocco, who also found a predominance of asthenia and emaciation with co-infection [13] . The correlation of co-infection with anorexia gave a statically significant result with a p-value of 0.02 and an OR of 0.00. This statically significant result could mean that HIV worsens the general clinical condition of patients, because it weakens the patients’ immune system, causing immunodepression and making them less resistant to tuberculosis.

Limitations of this study: Our sample is not sufficiently representative because these data come from a single collection site.