Adult-type pulmonary tuberculosis in children 10-14 years of age.

ABSTRACT

We report 8 children (10-14 years of age) who were diagnosed with tuberculosis at their local primary health care clinic from July to September 2004, after routine sputum testing was extended to all children older than 10 years of age with suspected tuberculosis. This case series emphasizes that older children develop adult-type cavitating disease, which can be diagnosed by sputum smear microscopy, in contrast to younger children for whom smear microscopy has very little diagnostic value.