Reply

Abstract

Letters to the EditorReply Lalit PandyaMD, MRCP Lalit Pandya Sahary Chest Hospital, P.O. Box 7966, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia Search for more papers by this author Published Online:1 May 1991https://doi.org/10.5144/0256-4947.1991.355aSectionsPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail AboutIntroductionTo The Editor: I thank Dr. Nabi for his comments. My comments in reply are as follows: We see only adult pulmonary tubercular patients, and the youngest patient in our series was 15 years old. Regarding the low prevalence of tuberculosis in Saudi children in the Southern region, all the adverse predisposing factors like low socioeconomic conditions, not receiving BCG protection, malnutrition, and positive family contact need study. We cannot really comment on this. A low prevalence of tubercular infection in normal children from the Northern region of Saudi Arabia has been shown by Hajjaj et al[1] in a small survey. In their study in children 5 to 14 years old who had not received BCG vaccination, only 4% showed tuberculin positivity, compared with 58% positivity in the age group 45 to 64 years. This indicates a pool of infected population who can develop active pulmonary tuberculosis. Most of them must have acquired tuberculosis during childhood. The low percentage of tuberculosis in children is due to changes in the socioeconomic structure.ARTICLE REFERENCES:1. Al-Hajjaj M, El-Kassimi F, Abdullah A, Al-Orainey I. "Prevalence of tuberculosis infection in the Northern Region of Saudi Arabia (abstract)" . Proceedings of the Conference on Lung Health, Boston, Massachusetts, A801. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 11, Issue 3May 1991 Metrics History Published online1 May 1991 InformationCopyright © 1991, Annals of Saudi MedicinePDF download