Childhood Tuberculosis as seen at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria
Abstract
Summary: In a study of 143 children with tuberculosis, 84% of the cases were found to be below the age of 5 years. Measles was an antecedent illness in 57% of the cases, while 41 were malnourished. There was a positive contact history in 42 cases. Twenty-seven cases had received BCG vaccination previously. Pulmonary tuberculosis was the most prevalent type with hilar and/or paratracheal adenopathy and bronchopneumonia predominating. Twelve children presented with chronic otorrhoea. The defaulting rates at clinic attendance were 26% and 75% at 6 and 12 months, respectively. The experience from the present study indicates the need to combat tuberculosis in the Zaria community. Besides drug therapy, contact tracing and a comprehensive immunization programme for children are mandatory, if the disease is to be contained.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This is an open-access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work even, commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the author, and the new creations are licensed under identical terms