RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Overview of paediatric tuberculosis cases treated in the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Australia
Laila Al Yazidi A B C * , Ben Marais C D , Meredith Wickens E , Pamela Palasanthiran A B , David Isaacs C , Alexander Outhred C D , Brendan McMullan A B and Philip Britton C D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Immunology and Infectious Diseases Department, Sydney Children’s Hospital, NSW, Australia
B School of Women’s and Children’s Health, UNSW Sydney, Australia
C Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Department, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia
D Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
E Health Protection NSW, Sydney, Australia
Public Health Research and Practice 29, e28231807 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp28231807
Published: 31 July 2019
Abstract
Background:Sydney has a large and highly mobile immigrant community. The pattern of paediatric tuberculosis (TB) disease in this highly cosmopolitan city is not well documented. Methods: We reviewed data on all children notified with TB in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, from January 2014 to December 2015, complemented by an expanded dataset for children managed within the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN). Results: Over the 2-year study period, 921 TB cases were identified in NSW, including 26 (2.8%) children younger than 15 years of age. Of 23 children and adolescents treated for TB in the SCHN, 21 (91.3%) had a history of recent immigration from, or travel to, a country with high TB incidence, and 7 (30.4%) reported contact with an infectious TB case in Australia. Fourteen (60.9%) children had microbiologically confirmed TB; of these, 5 (21.7%) had acid-fast bacilli on microscopy, 8 (34.8%) were positive by polymerase chain reaction and 11 (47.8%) were positive by culture. All Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were susceptible to first-line drugs. Ten (43.5%) cases were not vaccinated with bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), including all cases with severe disease: 2 with disseminated (miliary) TB and 3 with tuberculous meningitis. Conclusion: Our findings emphasise the need for improved TB prevention and surveillance in children at high risk of exposure, particularly young children travelling to areas of high TB incidence.
