TY - JOUR T1 - Childhood tuberculosis in Israel: epidemiological trends and treatment outcomes, 1999–2010 JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/09031936.00033912 SP - erj00339-2012 AU - Zohar Mor AU - N Cedar AU - G Pinsker AU - H Bibi AU - I Grotto Y1 - 2012/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/09/27/09031936.00033912.abstract N2 - Childhood tuberculosis (CT) poses high-risk for morbidity and death. This study describes CT characteristics in Israel and examines treatment outcomes.Data sources were the National Tuberculosis Registry and the National Civil-Census.Between 1999 and 2010, 416 children (<18 years) had CT, averaging 1.5 per 100,000 children (range: 0.6–3.2) demonstrating a declining trend. The average CT proportion of all tuberculosis cases reported annually was 8.4% (range 5.4–11.8%). Most (N=320, 79%) of the CT were pulmonary. CT rates were highest for the 0–4 age-group and lowest for the 10–14 age-group.Of all CT, 236 (56.7%) were born in countries with high-tuberculosis prevalence: 214 were Israeli-citizens who were Ethiopian-born and 22 were non-Israeli citizens. The overall CT incidence in 2010 was 1.05 cases per 100,000 children. CT incidence for Israeli-born children, children whose parents were Ethiopian-born and children of migrant-workers, was 0.55:100,000, 7.5:100,000 and 50–100:100,000, respectively.Cultures were taken from 60% of all CT. Most children (97.8%) achieved treatment success, while 3 children (0.7%) died.Overall CT rates in Israel are decreasing. However, children of parents born in countries with high-tuberculosis prevalence are still at high-risk for developing CT. Bacteriological confirmation should be encouraged to improve CT control. ER -