ABSTRACT
Background: tuberculosis (TB) represents a global health issue. In Egypt all efforts are directed to early detection and proper management of TB cases. Objectives: to highlight the pattern of the reported TB cases during the study period. Methods: The study was conducted in Al-Azhar university hospitals (Al-Hussein & Bab-Alshaaria), Cairo, Egypt. All patients registered with TB from January 2009 to December 2013 were included in the study. All data were coded and statistically analyzed to gain insight into the pattern of TB cases over the period. Results: we found 654 cases reported during 5 years period. The mean age of patients infected with tuberculosis was 36.3±15. 4 years, there was equal number of male and female. In both genders, the highest number of tuberculosis patient was found in productive age groups. During the 5-year study period, the highest percentage of cases was newly diagnosed and the highest frequency of cases was during year 2013 and lowest frequency was during year 2012. Most of PTB cases (82.5 %) were smear positive. the most common site for EPTB were lymph node, pleura and bone& joint. Conclusions: there is decline in total number of TB cases across the studied years except slight rise in 2013 and most studied cases were newly diagnosed,pulmonary smear positive cases. In all age groups, PTB was more common than EPTB except in age group 5-<15 year. Efforts should be directed towards TB prevention and control highlighted by the changes in the pattern of cases through early detection and management of both PTB& EPTB.