RESUMO
Background: Many clinicians regard tuberculosis as an adultpulmonary disease, but tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause ofdisease, both pulmonary and extrapulmonary, and death inyoung children from TB-endemic countries, especially in areasaffected by poverty, social disruption, and humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 70children less than 17 years of age. All the demographic detailsof the patients were recorded from the hospital records. Athorough clinical record of patient and contact history andphysical examination, TST, CXR, sputum smear microscopyand culture were noted. Cases with positive bacteriology(smear, culture or both) were considered TB. The patientsample was divided into 3 groups based on age: less than 8years, 8-12 years, 13-17 years. Entire data was recorded in theMicrosoft excel sheets. SPSS software was used for statisticalanalysis.Results: 38.57% of patients were less than 8 years of age.41.42% of patients belonged to age group of 8-12 yearswhereas 20% of the patients were above 13 years and lessthan 17 years. Out of 70 patients 41 were females (58.57%)and the rest 29 were males (41.42%). It was observed in thisstudy that cough was the most common presenting symptomamongst the patients (75.71%). Fever, fatigue and weight losswas present in 70%, 62.85% and 55.71% cases respectively.Conclusion: Children are highly vulnerable to tuberculosis,and there are particularities specific to pediatric patients.Cough, fever, fatigue and weight loss are the most presentingsigns of pulmonary tuberculosis in children