Peculiarities of early detection of tuberculosis in adolescents

We analyzed TB incidence among adolescents in Saratov Region in 1981-1983 and compared it with the incidence among related age groups - children 12-14 years old and young adults 18-19 years old. As can be seen from the table, primary forms of tuberculosis in children predominate, while in adolescents and young adults secondary forms (in half of them - infiltrative tuberculosis and in a quarter - focal) predominate. The more frequent occurrence of exudative pleurisy and extrapulmonary forms is apparently due to the special reactivity of adolescence. However, the dramatic differences in the frequency of primary and secondary tuberculosis in children of pubertal age and adolescents can hardly be explained by reactivity features alone. We should think that primary forms of tuberculosis in adolescents are poorly diagnosed; therefore, predominantly secondary forms are determined. To address this question, we compared the detection of tuberculosis in children, adolescents, and young adults.