OBJECTIVE The accurate diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis remains a major challenge. Bacteriological and molecular methods that are more rapid and/or less expensive than conventional culture techniques are used for diagnosis and/or drug-resistance testing. The aim of the present study was to describe the characteristic of children with suspected tuberculosis tested Xpert MTB/RIF in Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya.
METHOD A descriptive study was conducted on children with suspected tuberculosis in Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya between January 2016 and December 2018. A variety of clinical materials submitted to the laboratory for examination; including sputum, pleural fluid and gastric aspirate from Dr. Soetomo Hospital and outside; were performed for Xpert MTB/RIF test and acid fast bacilli (AFB) smear examination, with the outcomes were MTB Detected, MTB not detected, rifampicin sensitive and rifampicin resistance.
RESULT Among total of 275 subjects during 3 years study periods, the largest collection of sample was 95 (34.5%) sputum samples, others were from body fluids (gastric aspirate, pleural fluid, bronchial washings, cerebrospinal fluid), also material from abscesses and other biopsy specimens or resected tissue. The total number of MTB/RIF detected was 69 (25.1%), with majority collected from 47 (68.1%) sputum samples; highest group age with MTB/RIF detected was 11-15 years old 25/69 (36.2%); and the drug sensitivity test showed 9 (13%) rifampicin resistance with all samples were sputum, while 60 (87%) subjects showed no rifampicin resistance.
CONCLUSION Largest sample collections of children tested Xpert MTB/RIF were sputum, with high number of MTB/RIF positivity, majority aged 11-15 years old and drug sensitivity test showed all rifampicin resistance results came from sputum samples.