Study of a series of 8 tuberculosis cases in the paediatric ward

Tuberculosis is one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world and represents a major public health problem. Mali, a country with a high tuberculosis endemic, has notified 7084 new cases of TB in 2018, with an estimated incidence of 53 new cases per 10,000 inhabitants. Objective: To assess the frequency of tuberculosis in children aged 0 to 15 years at the paediatric ward of the hospital in Mali. Materials and methods: This was a prospective, descriptive study, reporting a series of 8 cases of tuberculosis collected in children aged 0 to 15 years in the paediatric ward of the Hospital of Mali from January 1st to December 31st 2019. The data were collected at the hospital, entered on Access and analysed on SPSS version 23. Results: A frequency of 0.078% was found. The female sex dominated with a sex ratio of 3, while the 2 - 5 age group was more represented with 37.5%. The children of farmers and labourers were more numerous (37.5% each) and 62.5% of the children came from rural areas. Contagion was noted in 25% of the subjects and the most common time interval for the onset of symptoms was 1-4 months.