[Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of tuberculosis in children and adolescents in Armenia].

In Armenia, the incidence of tuberculosis among children aged less than 18 years increased by 53.2% (from 7.9 to 12.1% per 100,000 inhabitants) in 1993 to 2003. On the contrary, the proportion of children and adolescents among all the patients decreased by almost twice (from 13.4 to 8.1%), which is largely due to the reduction in birth rates and to the inadequate detection of minor and local forms of primary tuberculosis. The clinical composition of tuberculosis in 1270 examined patients was the following: tuberculosis of respiratory organs (82.9%); its extrapulmonary forms (14.4%); tuberculous intoxication (2.7%); a concomitance of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (5%). The boy-girl ratio was 2:1. Tuberculosis of intrathoracic lymph nodes was predominant in children aged less than 14 years; infiltrative tuberculosis was prevalent in adolescents. Lung tissue destruction was observed in 15.7%; Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found in 10.2% of the patients. 49.9% of the patients were from the foci of tuberculosis; half of these cases were from the hidden foci of this infection.