Maternal chest radiography as supporting evidence for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in childhood.

Routine chest radiography of the mothers of 163 children investigated for possible tuberculosis accompanied by sputum culture from those mothers with suspicious chest radiographs identified active pulmonary tuberculosis in 12 (10 per cent) of the mothers of the 117 children with probable (49 cases) and confirmed (68 cases) tuberculosis. All but one of the cases of active maternal tuberculosis were identified in the mothers of children less than 1 1/2 years of age. Chest radiography of the mothers of children less than 1 1/2 years of age will aid the diagnosis of tuberculosis in the child and expedite the reduction of the infectious pool of active pulmonary tuberculosis cases in adults in the community.