Tuberculosis

The tuberculosis a disease present in our environment that is being reactivated due to AIDS and the increase in immigration from countries with poor sanitary control.

Causes of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is transmitted by sick people who shed tubercle bacilli through saliva (bacillifers).

Children with tuberculosis do not usually spread the germ with their cough, therefore, they do not spread the disease.

Symptoms

In children, in general, it produces few symptoms, appearing nonspecifically as an episode of fever and cough.

In pediatrics, infected or sick children are detected when a positive Mantoux test (tuberculin test) is found: it is a test that allows the detection of most tuberculosis infections. It consists of a small injection that is applied under the skin of the forearm and after 2 or 3 days the existence or not of a reaction at the site of the puncture is assessed. This will be positive if the Pediatrician observes an induration greater than or equal to 5 mm in children not vaccinated with the BCG vaccine (vaccine against tuberculosis).

In cases where the tuberculin test is positive, it should be assessed whether the child is infected or has simply had contact with the bacteria but has not developed the disease.

In some exceptional cases The tuberculosis it can manifest as meningitis.

Treatment

Children infected with tuberculosis and who develop the disease should follow a treatment that combines three drugs for a period of not less than 6 months.

Children who have a positive Mantoux test or have had direct contact with an adult with tuberculosis, but have not developed the disease, must carry out chemoprophylaxis. In these cases, a single antibiotic (isoniazid) is prescribed for a few months to prevent the development of the infection in the child.

Pediatric Specialist