Peadiatric Tuberculosis: Is the World Doing Enough?

Abstract

Until recently, tuberculosis (TB) had become a neglected disease, particularly in children. It was after the emergence of multi drug resistant TB, and the complications brought about by the HIV/AIDS coinfection, that TB took centre stage again. The common perception has been that children rarely develop severe forms of TB and that they do not contribute much to the spread of the epidemic. Although this could be the case in non-endemic areas, where diligent contact tracing is enforced, in children from endemic areas it is a different story as revealed by an autopsy study conducted in Zambia which demonstrated that tuberculosis was a major cause of death from respiratory disease (Chintu et al., 2002).