Infections in Asymptomatic Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children in London 2016-2022.
Journal
The Pediatric infectious disease journal
ISSN: 1532-0987
Titre abrégé: Pediatr Infect Dis J
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 8701858
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 Dec 2023
01 Dec 2023
Historique:
medline:
16
11
2023
pubmed:
19
9
2023
entrez:
19
9
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are at increased risk of infections and experience barriers to healthcare access. There is a lack of evidence to underpin existing national and international guidance regarding asymptomatic infection screening in this population. We describe the results from routine infection screening of 1104 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children attending for testing at 3 London centers. We performed a retrospective analysis of routinely collected data from all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children seen in 3 services in London, United Kingdom, between 2016 and 2022. A total of 1104 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children attended clinic; all accepted screening. The median age was 16 years (range 11-18 years) and 987 (89%) were male. 407 (37%) had at least 1 infection; 116 (11%) had multiple infections. Tuberculosis infection and schistosomiasis were common (found in 18% and 17%, respectively). Hepatitis B infection was identified with a prevalence of 3.9%. Giardia 7.7%, tapeworm 3.3% and Strongyloides 2.8% were also commonly identified. We report the largest known dataset to our knowledge of infection screening in asymptomatic unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe to date. This data supports recommendations for routine asymptomatic screening in this high-risk cohort, based on the significant prevalence identified of infections of both personal and public health significance.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are at increased risk of infections and experience barriers to healthcare access. There is a lack of evidence to underpin existing national and international guidance regarding asymptomatic infection screening in this population. We describe the results from routine infection screening of 1104 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children attending for testing at 3 London centers.
METHODS
METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of routinely collected data from all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children seen in 3 services in London, United Kingdom, between 2016 and 2022.
RESULTS
RESULTS
A total of 1104 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children attended clinic; all accepted screening. The median age was 16 years (range 11-18 years) and 987 (89%) were male. 407 (37%) had at least 1 infection; 116 (11%) had multiple infections. Tuberculosis infection and schistosomiasis were common (found in 18% and 17%, respectively). Hepatitis B infection was identified with a prevalence of 3.9%. Giardia 7.7%, tapeworm 3.3% and Strongyloides 2.8% were also commonly identified.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
We report the largest known dataset to our knowledge of infection screening in asymptomatic unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe to date. This data supports recommendations for routine asymptomatic screening in this high-risk cohort, based on the significant prevalence identified of infections of both personal and public health significance.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37725799
doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000004087
pii: 00006454-202312000-00005
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1051-1055Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.
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