Title : Prevalence of Rifampicin resistance in pediatric tuberculosis cases in rural area of North india
Abstract:
Background: Globally, tuberculosis (TB) continues to exact an unacceptably high toll of disease and death among children, particularly in the wake of the HIV epidemic. Increased international travel and immigration have seen childhood TB rates increase even in traditionally low burden, industrialised settings, and threaten to facilitate the emergence and spread of multi-drug resistant strains. While intense scientific and clinical research efforts into novel diagnostic, therapeutic and preventative interventions have focused on TB in adults, childhood TB has been relatively neglected. However, children are particularly vulnerable to severe disease and death following infection, and those with latent infection become the reservoir of disease reactivation in adulthood, fueling the future epidemic. Further Advances in our understanding of TB in children would provide wider insights and opportunities to facilitate efforts to control this ancient disease.
Aim: To find prevalence rate of tuberculosis and multi drug resistance tuberculosis in pediatric age group .
Material and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study done in department of Microbiology of Bhagat phool Singh Government Medical college , Khanpurkalan, Sonepat, Haryana during a time period of nine months from January 2021 –september 2021. A variety of clinical samples were collected from suspected patients of pediatric age group (0-14 years) including samples from OPD and IPD patients. These samples were processed for diagnosis of Mycobacterium tubercle bacilli via CB-NAAT as per standard protocol and results were recorded both digitally as well as manually.
Results: A total of 1279 various clinical samples were processed, out of which 46 samples were from pediatric age group. Among these 46 clinical samples , 10 (21.74%) samples came to be positive with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to Rifampicin was detected in one(2.17%) sample (Intermediate level). This positivity rate was most prevalent in age goup of 13-14 years old patients (32.60%) followed by age group 11-12 years old patients (17.4%).
Conclusion: Tuberculosis in children is an epidemiological indicator of recent transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the community. Efforts must be made to collect microbiological specimens before initiating treatment whenever possible. Management by an experienced paediatrics team allows an accurate diagnosis even when microbiologic confirmation is not possible.
