Paediatric Tuberculosis at the Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course Clinic of Usmanu Danfodiyo U
Introduction: Despite substantial progress against the disease in recent years, tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading infectious disease killer worldwide. The majority of childhood TB cases occur in endemic countries with TB, but the exact burden of paediatric TB is uncertain. Most people who contract the disease can be treated with early diagnosis and treatment using first-line anti-tuberculous medications, and infection transmission can be curtailed. Objective: To evaluate the paediatric tuberculosis trend and outcomes handled at a tertiary facility in Sokoto, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Reports of children treated for TB were retrospectively checked at the Specifically Monitored Short-course Care (DOTS) clinic over a three-and-a-half-year period. All children (15 years or older) treated for TB were included during the study period. Related information was collected and analysed from the registry accordingly. Results: 74 children were handled with males being 33(44.6 percent), giving a 1:1.2 M:F ratio. The mean (±SD) age was 85.78 (±55.40) months, and the 0.0-5.0-year age group was 34 (45.9 percent). There were 71 new cases (95.9 percent) and three (4.1 percent) relapses. Pulmonary TB (PTB) was seen in 50 patients (67.6%), with PTB in more women than in men, which was not significant (χ2=0.4, p=0.52). Just 8 (10.8 percent) were positive for acid quick bacilli (AFB), while GeneXpert MTB/RIF sensitivity was observed in 7 (10.8 percent) (9.2 percent ). Most 36 (48.6 percent) were lost to follow-up, 30 (40.5 percent) completed treatment, with no reported mortality, only 4(5.4 percent) were cured. The successful outcome of treatment was poor (45.9 percent ). Conclusion: The result of care using the DOTS method was bad, well below the WHO benchmark. To prevent the development of multi-drug resistant TB, adherence to DOT therapy needs to be strengthened. Please see the link :- https://www.journalijtdh.com/index.php/IJTDH/article/view/30351 [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]