Remarks on diagnostics of tuberculosis meningoencephalitis in children
- Author:
Huy Vu Bui
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
tuberculosis meningoencephalitis;
children;
clinical diagnosis
- MeSH:
Meningoencephalitis/ diagnosis;
Tuberculosis;
Meningeal/ diagnosis;
Child;
- From:Journal of Preventive Medicine
2007;1(17):45-49
- CountryViet Nam
- Language:Vietnamese
-
Abstract:
Background: tuberculosis meningoencephalitis (TBME) is an acute infectious disease of the central nervous system. The disease had a high mortality rate and severe sequelae if late diagnosis and not timely treatment. However, in recent years, the patients with TBME who was transferred to National Pediatric Hospital Hospital remained to be diagnosed not exactly, affect to treatment outcomes. Objectives: study on the difficulties in diagnosing TBME in children. Subjectives and Method: a descriptive study on 34 children aged 4-14 months diagnosed with TBME at Department of infectious, National Pediatric Hospital from January 2002 to September 2005. Results: 35.29% of the patients were under 1 year old. The suggestive signs and symptoms for diagnosis included BCG\ufffd?scar (50%), tuberculosis exposure (32.4%), weight loss (31.8), fever (100%), vomiting (70.6%), stiff-neck (94.1%), meningeal sign (70.6%), Kernig\u2019s sign (61.8%), positive Tuberculin tests (35.29%) and typical lesions on chest x-rays (11.8%). In cerebrospinal fluids (CSF), mean cell count was 274/mm3 and protein concentration was 1.51g/l. These were hindrances for diagnosing TBME in children. Disease distribution was in both the urban and the rural areas. Conclusions: Clinical manifestations and disease progress are not typical for TBME diagnosis. Therefore, it is important to think about TBME in cases with acute meaningitidis lasting for more than 14 days. PCR will be a very good marker for definite diagnosis.
