Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Children

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of infection-related death worldwide. Children represent 5 to 15% of all TB cases around the world and are more frequently infected and more easily affected by the most severe forms of the disease such as meningitis and disseminated form .Here, we reviewed TB in children with impact on the routes of transmission, clinical manifestations, treatment, control, and prophylaxis. Electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus) were searched from June1995 to May 2014 by using key words (pulmonaryTB,epidemiology,transm ission,clinical manifestations,treatment,control, and prophylaxis) . Pulmonary tuberculosis may manifest in several forms, including endobronchial TB with focal lymphadenopathy, progressive pulmonary disease, pleural involvement, and reactivated pulmonary disease . Symptoms of primary pulmonary disease in the pediatric population are often insignificant. Gastric aspirates are used instead of sputum in children younger than 6 years. BCG vaccination is used in many parts of the world and the major role of vaccination is the prevention of life-threatening illness such as disseminated TB and meningitis in children.Treatment is the same as for adults. Most people infected with M .tuberculosis do not develop active disease. In healthy individuals, the lifetime risk of developing infection to disease is 5-10%. Reactivation of TB often occurs in older children and adolescent and is more common in patients who acquire TB at age 7 years and older.