Tuberculosis Burden among Household Pediatric Contacts of Adult Tuberculosis Patients.

OBJECTIVES

To find out the prevalence of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection and TB disease among pediatric household contacts of adult drug resistant (MDR) and drug susceptible (DS) TB patients and to identify the risk factors for occurrence of TB infection in the contacts.

METHODS

Pediatric household contacts (less than 15 y age) of adult TB patients (both MDR and DS) were included in the study. They were categorized as latent TB infection (LTBI), TB disease and TB exposed based on the results of tuberculin skin testing (TST), clinical examination and chest X-ray. Various factors (age, gender, socioeconomic status, BCG immunization etc.) were evaluated to assess their association with TB transmission.

RESULTS

A total of 271 household contacts were included in the study. Prevalence of LTBI was 20.3% (31% in MDR TB group and 14% in DS TB group); difference was significant (p value = 0.0018). TB disease was seen in 3 subjects in DS group while none in MDR group developed TB disease. Lower socioeconomic status was significantly associated with risk of TB infection in MDR group (p value =0.0027). In DS TB group, male gender, BCG non-immunization was significantly associated with risk of developing TB (p value 0.0068 and 0.0167 respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Prevalence of latent TB infection was found to be high in household pediatric contacts especially in contacts of MDR TB patients. Risk factors identified for occurrence of TB included lower socioeconomic status, BCG non-immunization and male gender. The study focuses on the importance of contact screening and the need for its implementation in TB control programs.