Association of clinical and demographic factors with fungal culture in pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

Pulmonary fungal infections are a significant co-infection in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Therefore, it is of interest to examine the relationship between clinical and demographic factors and fungal culture positivity in suspected or confirmed PTB cases. A cross-sectional study of 180 individuals was conducted at MGM Medical College, Indore, using sputum samples for fungal culture and KOH mount. Fungal positivity was found in 20% of patients, with a significant association with proven PTB (p = 0.003). Thus, the significant association between pulmonary tuberculosis and fungal co-infections, emphasizing the need for routine fungal screening to improve diagnosis and clinical outcomes is reported.