[Tuberculosis annual report 2009--series 3. Childhood TB]

The number of newly reported childhood tuberculosis (TB) cases (0-14 years old) in 2009 was 73, corresponding to a case rate of 0.43 per 100,000. In 2007 and 2008, the case numbers and rates of childhood TB increased slightly from the previous years, but in 2009 the case number and case rate were the lowest in the long history of the Japanese TB surveillance system. Among 73 childhood TB patients, 34 (46.6%) were aged 0-4 years, 3 (4.1%) were foreigners and 27 (37.0%) were extra-pulmonary TB. No TB meningitis case in this age group (0-14 years old) was reported for 3 years (from 2006 to 2008), but one case was reported in 2009. Also, 4 cases of disseminated TB were reported in 2009, the highest figure during those 10 years (from 2000 to 2009). As for the mode of detection in 2009, 33 patients (45.2%) were detected at medical institutions with some symptoms or signs, 24 patients (32.9%) were detected by family contact examination, and 8 (11.0%) were detected by other contact examination. In the previous year (2008) these proportions were respectively 36.8%, 45.3% and 8.4%. Of the 47 prefectures in Japan, 27 had no cases of childhood TB in 2009. Childhood TB cases were concentrated in metropolitan areas, such as Osaka (13 cases), Tokyo (11 cases) and Kanagawa prefecture (7 cases).