Infectious disease issues in adoption of young children

Abstract

All international adoptees on arrival in the USA should be evaluated by a health practitioner knowledgeable in adoption medicine to identify medical problems, especially infections.

Infectious diseases prevalence, vaccination coverage, and diagnostic challenges in a population of internationally adopted children referred to a Tertiary Care Children's Hospital from 2009 to 2015

“…This is in line with the 5% to 26% prevalence reported in available literature. [4,27,30,47–49] In the absence of a recognized gold standard, diagnosis of latent TB in children is challenging. It is possible that in the IAC population LTBI may be overestimated in those cases with a positive TST and a negative QFT-G-IT result because of poor TST specificity, due to a cross-reaction with BCG vaccination, booster effect of previous multiple TST tests, and possible nontuberculous mycobacterial infections.…”

Italian multicentre study found infectious and vaccine‐preventable diseases in children adopted from Africa and recommends prompt medical screening

“…More than 2000 children are internationally adopted in Italy every year . Although internationally adopted children are often declared healthy in their native countries, medical disorders are often missed and diagnosed after adoption . As medical preadoption information can be incomplete, wrongly translated and, or discordant, medical care on arrival is a fundamental requirement so that the child's health status can be assessed .…”

Frequency and Characteristics of Infectious Diseases in Internationally Adopted Children: A Retrospective Study in Nantes From 2010 to 2012

“…Crucially, this medical visit is strongly recommended and seems to be widespread. [2][3][4][5][6]10,11 Since 1999, some specialized consultations, named Medical Guidance for Adopted Children Consultation (COCA in French), have operated in every region of France. [12][13][14][15] These consultations take place in university hospitals and are guided by pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, or parasitic biologists.…”