Tuberculosis of the talus in the child

Authors report an exceptional localization of tuberculosis in children. Tuberculosis became a pathology of high incidence in the last 20 years, even in industrialized countries. Localization in the talus is rarely reported (less than 100 pediatric cases worldwide). The authors report on observation of isolated bone tuberculosis of talus in a 20-month old boy. Isolated infection of the talus by Koch's bacillus (KB) is extremely rare; only a few rare cases in the child and at the adult have been reported in the literature. In our observation, a delay of 6 week was necessary to make diagnosis of bone tuberculosis. Reasons for this delay, and some diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this disease, are discussed here. Tuberculosis of the talus must be considered before any other inflammatory ankle disease.