[Epidemiology of tuberculosis and current approaches to improving measures against tuberculosis among adolescents].

The specific features of the epidemiological process and clinical forms of tuberculosis in Vladivostok adolescents treated in 1999 to 2006 were studied. Two periods were identified: 1) from 1999 to 2002 when fluorographic studies were annually made and 2) from 2003 to 2006 when fluorography was carried out every two years. It was established that during Period 2, there was a rise in tuberculosis morbidity among adolescents, which was attended by an increase in the number of patients with open and destructive forms. Adolescents aged 17 years, girls, first-year students were found to be more frequently ill. 41.1% of the patients underwent a fluorographic study less than a year ago. The foregoing generates the necessity of submitting the medical documentation of enrollees and first-year students along with the data of a fluorographic study and tuberculin tests.

[Detection of tuberculosis in children and adolescents in the Primorye Territory].

The epidemiological indices and the methods for detecting tuberculosis have been analyzed in the children and adolescents of the Primorye Territory. It has been established that morbidity among children became stable by 2003 and was 23.6 per 100,000; in adolescents it remains high - 79.5 per 100,000 in 2003. The association of the role of different detection methods with the age group is now a specific feature of tuberculosis in children and adolescents. Mass tuberculin diagnosis plays a decisive role in the detection of tuberculosis only in children aged 5-7 years. In other age groups, tuberculosis is frequently identified at contacts with a physician. Radiation is the leading technique in detecting tuberculosis in adolescents. The consideration of the specific features of tuberculosis detection in relation to the age group assisted one in the selecting the most optimum strategy of tuberculosis control in children and adolescents.

[A role of individual tuberculin diagnosis in the formation of registry group VI].

The authors studied the use of comprehensive individual tuberculin diagnosis (scarification skin test, intradermal titer) in the differential diagnosis of the nature of tuberculin sensitivity in children referred for examinations by physiological pediatricians for the diagnosis of a turn of tuberculin tests and the formation of registry group VIA. The use of this procedure was found to avoid the hyperdiagnosis of a turn of tuberculin tests in as high as 55.8%, to improve the diagnosis of hyperergic reactions to tuberculin, and to detect an occult false hyperergic reaction. Moreover, there is a possibility of observing the changes in individual sensitivity in Registry Group 0 children, which contributes to their more timely transfer to Group VIA. Analyzing the results shows that the use of comprehensive tuberculin diagnosis promotes the optimization of a system of preventive measures aimed at preventing tuberculosis in children.

[Environment-induced tuberculous infection among Vladivostok children and adolescents]. / Ekologicheskaia obuslovlennost' razvitiia tuberkuleznoi infektsii sredi detei i podrostkov Vladivostoka.

The epidemiological parameters of tuberculosis were studied in Vladivostok children and adolescents in relation to environmental factors and populational density. The city was divided into three areas: environmentally favorable, less favorable, and unfavorable. It has been ascertained that in the environmentally unfavorable area, the rates of morbidity are 1.3-4.9 times higher and those of infection are 1.4-1.6 times higher than those in the environmentally favorable areas. Analyzing the results may predict the most serious situation in the areas referred to as environmentally less favorable, which should be taken into account while organizing tuberculosis-controlling measures among children and adolescents living in the cities.

[The epidemiological and clinical aspects of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in children and adolescents in Primorsk Region]. / Epidemiologicheskie i klinicheskie aspekty vnelegochnogo tuberkuleza u detei i podrostkov v Primorskom krae.

The incidence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis has been studied in children and adolescents in the Primorye Territory in 1996 to 2001. There is a decrease in the incidence and prevalence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in both children and adolescents, which does not reflect the true situation as the process is more frequently diagnosed on their referral in the period of late clinical manifestations. Young age children have fallen ill more frequently (54.7%); 76% of the patients were identified on their referral. Most children are permanent residents and live in the high- and middle-class families. In the clinical pattern, there were predominant ostcoarticular forms of tuberculosis running with a complication of the underlying disease in 80%. The study suggests that there are great gaps in the detection of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in children.

[Prevalence and clinical aspects of tuberculosis in children and adolescents in the Primorsk Region]. / Zabolevaemost' tuberkulezom i ego klinicheskaia struktura u detei i podrostkov Primorskogo kraia.

The analysis of epidemiological trends in tuberculosis registered for 13 years in children and adolescents living in the Primorsky Region of Russia discovered a trend to an increase of its incidence rate especially in girls and rural population. The morbidity of children aged 4-6, schoolchildren and adolescents aged 17 reached in 1993 137, 22.9 and 62.8 per 100,000 people, respectively. Tuberculosis of the respiratory organs occurred most frequently. In children tuberculosis of intrathoracic lymph nodes was encounted in 88.2% of new cases, in adolescents focal and infiltrative forms were recorded in 27 and 50.8%, respectively. Worsening of ecological and social situation in the region affected negatively immunological indices in the young population. This necessitates urgent measures to control spreading tuberculosis in the Far East of Russia.