Childhood tuberculosis in a developed country

From 1975 to 1985, 25 Danish children (aged less than 15 yrs) and 40 children of immigrants were notified for tuberculosis in Copenhagen for the first time. A follow-up was undertaken in 1987. The annual rate of tuberculosis per 100,000 among the Danish children was 5 and among immigrant children 68-200 depending on the nationality. At the time of diagnosis, no significant differences were present between Danes and immigrants as regards age, sex, occurrence of symptoms or previous BCG immunization, whereas there were significantly more bacteriologically proven cases among the immigrants. All Danish children had respiratory tuberculosis only, whereas 13 immigrant children had extrapulmonary manifestations including one case of miliary and two cases of meningeal tuberculosis. At follow-up, all patients were cured for tuberculosis and had experienced a normal physical development.