Abstract
Central Africa is a region highly affected by the tuberculosis (TB) pandemic; however, data on local epidemiology are scarce. In the quest for gearing up towards tailored interventions, assessment of local baseline situations is mandatory. We conducted a retrospective study of 62 children registered in the TB register of a hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. The evaluation revealed a discrepancy between the TB burden and the commitment to control TB. Extrapolation of the incidence suggests an unexpectedly high childhood TB burden, assuming that the official overall TB incidence is an underestimate of the true TB burden in Gabon.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Kara Osbak for her thoughtful comments on this manuscript.
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest. MP Grobusch and S Janssen are supported by the UBS OPTIMUS Foundation.
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A. Flamen and S. Bélard contributed equally to this work.
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Flamen, A., Bélard, S., Kokou, C. et al. Childhood tuberculosis in Lambaréné, Gabon: tuberculosis control in its infancy?. Infection 42, 161–164 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-013-0529-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-013-0529-5