CLINICAL AND THERAPEUTIC ASPECTS OF TUBERCULOSIS IN CHILDREN AT THE CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE DE LA MÈRE ET DE L'ENFANT

Toralta Nodjitoloum Gueguila Josephine*, Ngakoutou Rangar, Ngaringuem Adrienne, Ildjima Kedallah Ousmane, Youssouf Hagre Djiditta, Mahamat Zalba Guillaume

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is difficult to diagnose in children and is responsible for many deaths in children under 15 years of age in developing countries. The objective of our work was to contribute to the management of tuberculosis in children in the pediatric department of the CHU-ME (Ndjamena). Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study over 2 years (January, 2021 to December, 2022) consisting of a review of the records of children aged 0 to 15 years, treated for tuberculosis in the pediatric department of CHU-ME (N'Djamena). Data were collected from follow-up registers and medical records. Children with a complete medical record were included, and the diagnosis of tuberculosis was based on the presence of a combination of anamnestic, clinical, biological and radiological evidence. The collected data were entered and analyzed in SPSS 18.0, Microsoft word, and Excel 2013 software. Results: A total of 116 cases of tuberculosis were collected among 3898 hospitalized patients (2.97%). The sex ratio is 1.15. The mean age of the patients was 6.58 years. Tuberculosis infection was suspected in 50 children (43.1%). Koch's bacillus was detected in 44 children (37.9% positive). Pulmonary and lymph node localizations were the most common. There were 84 cured children (72.4%). Among the sick children, 23 were lost to follow-up (19.8%) and 7 died (6.1%). Conclusion: Tuberculosis in children is a public health problem in Chad, due to its rich and polymorphic clinical picture. Its biological diagnosis remains difficult. Pulmonary localizations are more frequent. The majority of patients have a favorable outcome.

Keywords: Tuberculosis- Child- CHU-ME- Chad.