[Epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in children and youth of Poland].

After the Second World War tuberculosis was a very serious health problem in Poland. Tuberculosis in children and youth constituted an important part of the morbidity in the whole population. In 1957 almost 27% of newly detected cases concerned children (19.9%) and adolescents (7%). This percentage decreased systematically through 15.1% in 1965 to 3,0% of total morbidity in 1999 (0.8% in children aged 0-14 and 2.2% in youth aged 15-19 years). Improvement was also observed in the general tuberculosis morbidity rate. The number of new cases diagnosed in 1965 was 57511 (morbidity rate per 100000 population was 182.6) and in 1990 the number of new cases diagnosed was 16136 (morbidity rate 42.3 per 100000 population). In 1999 - 12179 new cases in the whole population were registered (morbidity rate 31.5 per 100000 population). The decrease of morbidity in children and adolescents was more rapid than in adults (mean value 8.9%). The number of new tuberculosis cases diagnosed in 1965 in the age group 0-14 was 4248, (43.5 per 100000 population) and fell to 108 new cases in 1999 (1.4 per 100000 population). In the 15-19 years age group in 1965 - 3621 new cases were diagnosed (125.2 per 100000 population) and in 1999 - 265 new cases (8 per 100000 population) were detected. The most common form of tuberculosis in children and in youth as well as in adults is pulmonary tuberculosis.