Background:Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health
problem in Liberia and it is among the first five most
important infectious diseases. Fourteen years of civil
war in Liberia caused a large internal displacement and
external migration of its citizens to neighbouring
countries such as Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone,
Ghana and Nigeria. Current spatio-temporal pattern of
TB cases in Liberia is essential for identifying risk
factors among humans for optimal resource allocation.
Methods: Surveillance data from January, 2008 to
December, 2012 were retrieved from two national TB
referral hospitals in the country: TB Annex Hospital
(TBAH) (Montserrado County) and Ganta TB and
Leprosy Rehabilitation Hospital (GTBLRH) (Nimba
County). Geographic coordinates of TB patient’s
locations were captured based on records in the hospital
case-files using Global Positioning System (GPS). The
coordinates were mapped using Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) software. Data on age, gender, date of
illness, dry and wet season frequency were used to
compute a descriptive and categorical analysis.
Kulldorff’s spatio-temporal scan statistic was used to
identify clusters of TB in the two Counties.
Results:A total of 2,890 laboratory-confirmed cases
were reported during the study period. There were 1,365
(47.23%) and 1,525 (52.77%) cases from TBAH and
GTBLRH respectively. The mean age of patient was
45.19 years ±19.49 (SD). Of this, 1,450 (50.17%) were
male. There was significant association between year
of TB occurrence and treatment outcome (x
2= 14.38;
p = 0.006).
Conclusion: The paper presents TB spatial pattern,
summarizing 5-year records of post-conflict surveillance
of the disease in Liberia.