Screening of Children in Household Contact With Adult TB Patients in Mbarara Hospital, Uganda

Launched by EPICENTRE · Dec 13, 2011

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Because children with tuberculosis (TB) are usually smear-negative and therefore less infectious, they are generally not considered a public health risk. Up to 70% of children living in the same household with an adult with infectious TB will become infected, and more than 20% of them will develop active TB disease, usually within 12 months. The individual risk of developing disease once infected is highest in children \<5 years. In addition, children under 5 years are at higher risk of developing disseminated forms of TB. The impact of childhood TB is worsened by co-infection with HIV. Con...

Gender

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Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Any child who has lived in the same household with the index case continuously for at least 2 weeks within the 3-month period immediately preceding the diagnosis of smear- positive or culture-positive TB in the index case.
• • Informed consent signed by the parent or legal guardian
• • Living within a 2-hour radius of Mbarara town
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Child currently receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment
• • Child has received a full course of anti-TB treatment within the last 6 months