Specialist child of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) dr. Wahyuni Indawati, Sp.A said, the handling of TB in children are different from adults, especially the identification of symptoms, examination, and diagnosis.
Identify the symptoms need to be distinguished because the symptoms of TB in children is not the same as adults. "Symptoms of TB in children is not unique and can be caused by other diseases," said Wahyu in Media Seminar titled "Tuberculosis in Children and the Value of Vaccination" held by the Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) some time ago.
But parents need to suspect child infected with TB bacteria if the child has a fever longer than two weeks, the cough of more than three weeks, the child lethargic and not as active as usual, down appetite, weight does not go up for two months, comes in contact with adult pulmonary TB patients, and a palpable lump in the neck.
Wahyuni explained, when a child is infected with the TB bacteria, it will not necessarily straight down with the illness. When the child's immune system is strong, the TB bacteria will be "inactive" for many months or even years. When child's immune system weakens, then the symptoms of TB disease.
After knowing the symptoms, said Wahyu, parents need to do a TB in children. To improve diagnosis, TB examination child was different with adults. TB in adults usually with sputum examination. However in children, sputum examination will usually give rise to false negative results. In addition to child TB is rarely accompanied by cough, sputum TB bacteria in children is also too little.
Examination of childhood TB is done in two ways, namely tuberculin test and chest X-rays. Tuberculin test is the main examination with TB bacteria inject proteins under the skin to assess the body's response to bacteria. "If positive then it means that the body previously been exposed to the TB bacteria that cause a reaction," said Wahyu.
While chest x-rays performed to assess the presence of abnormalities in the lung. Chest X-ray examination can help diagnosis but can not be used as the only means of diagnosis. When the results are considered incomplete, sputum examination can also be performed.
"Diagnosis of childhood TB is not as easy as adult TB diagnosis. Then need to do some checks to make a proper diagnosis," said Secretary of Public Relations and Member Welfare IDAI this.
TB misdiagnosis in children will lead to the wrong treatment. Though TB treatment takes a long time, which is about 6 to 12 months. "Losses treatment financing is the main disadvantage of TB misdiagnosis children," said Wahyu.
No comments:
Post a Comment