RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: (A) To characterize the clinical presentation of pediatric tuberculosis in Los Angeles County; (B) to determine the efficacy of contact investigation in identifying a source case for children with tuberculosis. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records, chest radiograph and Tuberculosis Control records of 34 children (age < 15 years) evaluated at Los Angeles County from January 1992 through December 1993. RESULTS: All patients were Hispanic. The mean age was 2.2 years. Thirty-three patients (97%) had intrathoracic disease. Eighteen patients (53%) were symptomatic and the most common symptoms were fever and cough. The contact investigation revealed only 4 patients (2%) to be adult source cases with active tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: The clinical features of pediatric tuberculosis in Los Angeles County confirm results previously reported in other parts of the US. In contrast, the identification of adult source cases is suboptimal. Improved methods of contact tracing are needed when evaluating children with tuberculosis.
Assuntos
Busca de Comunicante , Tuberculose/diagnóstico , Centros Médicos Acadêmicos , Adolescente , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Hispânico ou Latino , Humanos , Lactente , Transmissão Vertical de Doenças Infecciosas , Los Angeles/epidemiologia , Masculino , Estudos Retrospectivos , Tuberculose/epidemiologia , Tuberculose/transmissão , População UrbanaRESUMO
We present the case of a five-week-old infant with tuberculous meningitis. The contact investigation and a review of the literature helped us differentiate congenital from acquired tuberculous meningitis. Though rare, we with to emphasize the importance of considering tuberculosis in any neonate with meningitis that fails to respond to conventional treatment, particularly in infants living in an environment where tuberculosis is prevalent.
