[A severe form of urinary tuberculosis in children]

Urinary tuberculosis is a rare disease in children. It poses major diagnostic problems because of clinical symptoms, which are often atypical and misleading. It causes serious lesions which are often multifocal and extensive, requiring complex surgical excision and urinary tract reconstruction. Prevention of this disease is based on generalized vaccination with BCG and adequate treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. The authors report a case of urinary tuberculosis in a fourteen-year-old child who presented episodes of cystitis and hematuria refractory to treatment. The diagnosis, confirmed by the positive test for AFB in the urine was established late, at the stage of silent kidney and scleroatrophic bladder. The patient was treated with antituberculous chemotherapy (Isoniazid; Rifampicin, PZA) and nephro-ureterectomy with augmentation enterocystoplasty.