These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Tuberculosis and children: the missing diagnosis. A growing problem.
    Journal: Child Health Dialogue; 1996; Suppl():2-3. PubMed ID: 12292162.
    Abstract:
    About 33% of the world's population (2 billion people) are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Annually, 3 million people die from tuberculosis (TB) and 8 million acquire TB. Most TB cases are in developing countries. TB can attack the lungs or other organs. Pulmonary TB is most common in adults. Extrapulmonary TB, which is not infectious, is most common in children. Adults are the main source of TB infection in the community. When a TB-infected adult coughs or sneezes, he/she sprays many M bacterium into the air in tiny droplets. TB is curable, yet it is responsible for more deaths in adults than any other infectious disease. About 170,000 children die each year from tuberculous meningitis and disseminated TB disease. The increase in TB in adults will put more children at risk. Children most vulnerable to TB's effects are those younger than 2 and those whose parents suffer or die from TB. Increasing poverty, neglect of TB programs, and the spread of HIV account for the increase in TB cases. TB spreads best in overcrowded, badly ventilated places and among the malnourished. Health systems worldwide have undergone deep cuts and wide-ranging reforms, resulting in reduced access to vital TB services for the poorest members of society. Effective TB control requires properly operating, well-managed health services with adequate diagnostic facilities, trained staff, and available drugs. Limited community education results in people with active TB not seeking treatment and continuing to infect 20-28 others, including children. The HIV epidemic is causing an increase in TB in adults and in young children in some countries. Children infected with both HIV and TB have a poor prognosis. Health workers must be able to identify and treat TB with antibiotics. Proper treatment makes TB patients no longer infectious after 2-3 weeks. The BCG vaccination can protect children against the most severe forms of TB.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]