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Paediatric Pulmonology and Allergology
2004 April, Vol. VII, No. 1 (pp.2411-2418)
Tuberculosis in Children
James Paton
At the beginning of the 21st Century, tuberculosis, one of the world’s oldest diseases, remains amongst the “Captains of the men of Death.” Indeed, with the emergence of HIV infection, the problem of Tuberculosis is worsening again with a rise in case rates over the past 10 years. At present, it is estimated that one third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (1.7 billion people). From this pool, roughly 9 million cases of active tuberculosis emerge annually, resulting in 2-3 million deaths. Most new cases occur in the most populated nations -India and China- but the highest rates of disease are seen in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos, Afghanistan, Bolivia and Peru. This article aims to provide an update to some contemporary issues in the diagnosis and management of TB in children.