Prevalence of tuberculosis infection among children in slums of Ahmedabad.

ABSTRACT

Children below 15 yrs. of age without BCG scar were chosen for the tuberculin testing. Total 210 children were tested in 30 selected clusters (7 children in each cluster). Median age of the surveyed children was 6.33. Prevalence of infection in children was found to be 30.4% as 64 children out of 210 showed positive result (had induration > or = 10mm in size). Average ARI in the 0-14 yrs of age group was 5.4%. Tuberculosis is still one of the commonest problems in the urban slums. It is important to evaluate the epidemiology of tuberculosis in the changing face of century.