Introduction:Mycobacterium tuberculosis,which causes tuberculosis (TB),is one of the most common infectious diseases in children and one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children.World Health Organization's 2022 global TB report shows that COVID-19 outbreak has a negative impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment as well as the burden of TB disease.

Aim:We aimed to show how pediatric TB cases on the change of diagnosis and treatment process with COVID-19 pandemic

Methods:Patients detected TB between August 2017 and January 2023 were analyzed retrospectively,pre-pandemic(before March 2020) and pandemic(after March 2020) according to the date of diagnosis.Participants were divided into three groups as TB contact,Latent TB infection(LTBI) and TB disease.Groups were compared between pre and pandemic periods.

Results:Our study included 68 participants.Their diagnoses were 33% LTBI,17.6% TB contact and 48.5% TB disease.Equally 34 participants were registered in both periods before and after the pandemic.In the pre-pandemic period, 35% of the patients had TB disease, 14.7% of them were TB contacts and 50% of them were diagnosed with LTBI,while this rate was 61%, 20.5% and 17.6% respectively during the pandemic period (p=0.018).The demographic characteristics and complaints at the time of admission of TB patients in both periods were similar.

Conclusions:After COVID-19 pandemic, there was a remarkable increase in TB patients while a decrease in LTBI patients.During the pandemic period that lasted longer than 1 year, the increase in the indoor contact of children with the complete closure, and the difficulty of access to treatment and health centers increase the burden of TB disease.