Gender differences in tuberculosis: a prevalence survey done in Bangladesh.

SETTING: Bangladesh national tuberculosis control programme districts supported by the Damien Foundation (population 18 million). OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the observed gender difference is epidemiologically true or whether it is due to accessibility barriers for women. DESIGN: Two-stage random sampling population survey. People were interviewed by teams composed of one male and one female volunteer about the presence of symptoms suggestive of tuberculosis. One early morning sputum specimen of all thus identified tuberculosis suspects was examined by Ziehl-Neelsen technique. RESULTS: A total of 266189 people were surveyed, among whom 223 936 (84.1%) could be interviewed. This led to the identification of 7001 tuberculosis suspects (2406 females and 4595 males) and 64 confirmed TB cases (16 females and 48 males). The…