[Miliary tuberculosis in 27 children].

In the course of 3 1/2 years, 27 children with miliary tuberculosis were seen at the Hospital Infantil Lorencita Villegas de Santos in Bogotá, Columbia. Twenty-six percent of cases were infants under 12 months of age. Typical clinical cases were malnourished patients with impairment of their general condition, light respiratory stress or neurologic meningoencephalic involvement and febrile syndrome having a high contact index with tuberculous relatives. Some of them were undergoing measles or whooping cough convalescence. The chest X-ray showed micronodular infiltration and some cases, with hiliar adenomegaly, effusion or caverns. The liver percutaneous biopsy was of great help. The isolation of the bacillus from exudates was difficult to achieve. Tuberculin test was positive only in 30%. Cause of death: infiltration of central nervous system.