Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of tuberculosisin children up to seven years of age treated at Srebrnjak children's hospital
Abstract
Forty children with tuberculosis (TB), aged up to 7 years were treated in the period from January 2000 to December 2007. There were 30% children from Zagreb and Zagreb County and 70% patients from other counties. 60% of patients were female. Most patients were aged up to 4 years (75%). Positive intra-familiar contact was confirmed in 87.5% of patients. Primary TB was present in 65% of patients, postprimary TB in 35%. All children were BCG vaccinated, and a BCG scar was found in 82.5% of patients. Significantly positive PPD-test was found in 87.5% of patients. Symptoms were evidenced in 62.5% of patients, and auscultative findings in the lungs were present in 37.5% of patients. Tuberculosis was confirmed by radiologic examination in 95%, by bronchoscopic findings in 17.5% of patients, and mycobacterium tuberculosis culture positive test was found in 55% of patients. The present study has shown that intra-familiar contact with a tuberculosis subject, positive PPD-test, and radiological finding are crucial findings for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By publishing in Paediatria Croatica, authors retain the copyright to their work and grant others the right to use, reproduce, and share their research articles in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which allows others to distribute and build upon the work as long as they credit the author for the original creation.