[Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in children--an updated review of an old problem].
OBJECTIVE
Tuberculosis is still one of the most severe chronic diseases, especially in the world's poorest regions. Developing countries still have to face serious problems related to this endemic disease, in spite of the control programs they have implemented. The present study aims at updating the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in three South American countries: Brazil, Chile and Argentina.


METHODS
Medline and Lilacs databases, official guidelines and consensuses of the three countries involved.


RESULTS
Brazil, Chile and Argentina have guidelines based on the World Health Organization documents and on international consensuses. The standardization is similar between these countries, allowing the unification of language and favoring control measures. Within the Brazilian context, the new guidelines on the treatment of tuberculosis set out by the Ministry of Health are presented.


CONCLUSIONS
Since each country had to make adaptations in an attempt to solve the epidemiological differences between them, the treatments against tuberculosis still present some discrepancies, such as the use of three or four drugs in some cases.
Sant'Anna
Clemax Couto
CC
Departemento Científico de Pneumologia, Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria, Rio de Janeiro, RJ. clemax@vetor.com.br
Mourgues
Leonardo Véjar
LV
Ferrero
Fernando
F
Balanzat
Ana Maria
AM