Tuberculosis and AIDS co-morbidity in children: linkage of databases from Espirito Santo State, Brazil.

We assessed the prevalence of AIDS among children diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in Espírito Santo State, Brazil, by linking TB and AIDS surveillance databases using Reclink software and SPSS. Among 411 pediatric TB cases from 2000 to 2006, 27 (7%) were co-infected with AIDS. Most children were unable to provide a sputum specimen; co-infected patients were more likely to be smear negative for acid-fast bacilli (83% vs 46%; p = 0.07) and culture positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (44% vs 19%; p < 0.001). In all, 57% of co-infected patients did not react to tuberculin skin test compared with 17% of TB patients (p < 0.001). This report emphasizes the significance of AIDS in pediatric TB cases and highlights the importance of evaluating surveillance databases for gaining a better understanding of the burden of co-infection.