PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ghassen Soussi
AU  - Anissa Berraies
AU  - Imen Sahnoun
AU  - Jamel Ammar
AU  - Hanadi Ouali
AU  - Agnes Hamzaoui
TI  - Descriptive study of children with household contact of tuberculosis
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P4476
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P4476.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P4476.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Tuberculosis in children remains a problem in much of the world. Focusing on children with exposure to tuberculosis is justified by their increased risk for developing a severe disease.The aim of the study was to determine the likelihood of contracting latent tuberculosis infection in children with a household exposure and to assess post-exposure prophylactic measures.We examined medical records for all 25 individuals presenting from January 2011 to February 2013 who were household contacts of an adult with active TB. All of them had screening by tuberculin skin test (TST) and chest X-ray.The mean age was of 38 months. Nine patients had an induration of 10 or more millimeters in TST which accounted for 36% positive tests. Taking into consideration that all individuals have recently been vaccinated with BCG, infection developed in only 3 children (12%). Infection progressed to active disease in only one of them. Initial chest x-ray showed an apical condensation which was highly suggestive of post-primary TB. Sputum smears and bronchial washings were however negative. Children who had positive tests were contacts of their respective fathers in 33.3% of cases, mothers and grandmothers in 22.2% of cases and siblings in 11% of cases. They shared the same room with the infected subjects in 2 out of 3 cases. The latter suffered from pulmonary TB in 88.8% of cases and Only one case of lymph nodes TB. Twenty one children (84%) were prescribed prophylactic treatment: isoniazid in monotherapy in 8 cases and isoniazid-rifampicin combination in 13 cases. Tolerance and outcome were good in all cases and treatment observation was satisfactory in 96% of cases.