title: Tuberculosis in pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplantation patients.
abstract: Five children with malignancies (3 hematologic, 1 medulloblastoma, 1 hepatoblastoma) and one bone marrow transplant patient were treated for tuberculosis over a 30-year period. Three had pulmonary disease, 3 disseminated tuberculosis, and 1 had scrofula. Four of five had positive tuberculin skin tests, cultures were positive in 5/6 children. One child died of disseminated TB after engraftment, and one child had hepatotoxicity likely related to tuberculosis therapy. All cases were potentially preventable had they been screened due to established risk factors of foreign birth (4/6) or parental foreign birth (2/6). All children should be screened for latent tuberculosis before chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Sections of Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; Department of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Andrea T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Gladstone
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Airewele
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Starke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D064591:Allografts; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology
keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI); pediatric; prevention