Infectious diseases in sub-Saharan African immigrant children in Madrid, Spain

Background. Immigration flow from developing countries to European countries is growing continually, but data about imported infectious diseases in immigrant children are few. Methods. Descriptive and retrospective study of 125 sub-Saharan African children 0.05). Thirty-nine (21.9%) cases of filariasis were diagnosed. Hepatitis B serology was performed in 75 children: 24 (32%) were cured hepatitis B (antibody-positive only); 5 (6.6%) were hepatitis B surface antigen-positive; and 1 of 59 cases (1.7%) was hepatitis C-positive. The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection was 12.9% (7 of 54 purified protein derivative skin tests performed). Conclusions. The high infection rates of some diseases in immigrant children point to the need for screening sub-Saharan African children.