Tackling mortality due to childhood tuberculosis
Authors: Sylvain Godreuil, Olivier Marcy, Eric Wobudeya, Maryline Bonnet, Jérôme Solassol, Soraya Groc, Jessica Lee Abbate, Frédéric Le Gal, Athenaïs Gerber, Edouard Tuaillon, Jean-Louis Albert, Dieudonné Nkoghé, Eric M. Leroy, Benjamin Roche, Pierre Becquart
Journal: The Lancet Public Health (2018)

March 24 marks World Tuberculosis Day, an opportunity to promote greater commitment and leadership in the fight against tuberculosis at all levels. It is particularly urgent to increase awareness and mobilisation on childhood tuberculosis because tuberculosis mortality is still un-acceptably high in children. Indeed, there were 253 000 deaths among one million estimated cases in 2016, almost exclusively in young children who did not receive treatment.1WHOGlobal tuberculosis report 2017. World Health Organization, 2017Google Scholar, 2Dodd PJ Yuen CM Sismanidis C Seddon JA Jenkins HE The global burden of tuberculosis mortality in children: a mathematical modelling study.Lancet Glob Health. 2017; 5: e898-e906Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (192) Google Scholar Affordable and child-friendly treatments are available, but childhood tuberculosis is often underdiagnosed: only 45% of all estimated paediatric tuberculosis cases were notified to the WHO in 2016.1WHOGlobal tuberculosis report 2017. World Health Organization, 2017Google Scholar This situation is partly explained by the lack of adapted health-care structures and the low implementation of public health policy and tools for the detection and prevention of childhood tuberculosis. The recommendations from the WHO's Roadmap for Childhood Tuberculosis: towards zero deaths3WHORoadmap for childhood tuberculosis: towards zero deaths.http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/89506/1/9789241506137_eng.pdfDate: 2013Google Scholar of better coordination between health-care providers and decentralisation of tuberculosis services to primary facilities are seldom implemented. In most resource-limited countries, paediatric tuberculosis services are still concentrated in tertiary and secondary health-care systems, with poor involvement of primary facilities, where most of children seek care. Indeed, these primary facilities do not have adequate resources for bacteriological confirmation of the disease, which require adapted sample collection methods to young children unable to expectorate. They also lack sensitive tests and have low capacities for clinical and radiological diagnoses of tuberculosis.4Oliwa JN Karumbi JM Marais BJ Madhi SA Graham SM Tuberculosis as a cause or comorbidity of childhood pneumonia in tuberculosis-endemic areas: a systematic review.Lancet Respir Med. 2015; 3: 235-243Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (90) Google Scholar Tuberculosis diagnosis is even more challenging in highly vulnerable children with HIV infection or with severe malnutrition. Underdiagnosis of paediatric tuberculosis is also due to the absence of systematic screening of children in contact with adults with contagious tuberculosis. When looking at children younger than 5 years in contact with tuberculosis, around 35% of them are already infected without disease and 10% have active tuberculosis at the time of screening.5Fox GJ Barry SE Britton WJ Marks GB Contact investigation for tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Eur Respir J. 2013; 41: 140-156Crossref PubMed Scopus (445) Google Scholar WHO's recommendations to screen household contacts and offer preventive therapy to eligible contacts are rarely implemented. The reasons for not implementing these recommendations include lack of recognition of childhood tuberculosis as a public health problem, health-care and human resource limitations, and the challenges of paediatric tuberculosis diagnosis.6Hill PC Rutherford ME Audas R van Crevel R Graham SM Closing the policy-practice gap in the management of child contacts of tuberculosis cases in developing countries.PLoS Med. 2011; 8: e1001105Crossref PubMed Scopus (67) Google Scholar The current WHO guidelines,7WHOGuidance for national tuberculosis programmes on the management of tuberculosis in children.http://www.who.int/tb/publications/childtb_guidelines/en/Date: 2014Google Scholar while acknowledging the limited access to tuberculin and to chest radiography in many endemic countries, recommend symptom-based screening followed by preventive therapy that can be initiated within the local community services for non-symptomatic contacts. Symptomatic contacts should be referred to health-care facilities for further evaluation. Moreover, most tuberculosis programmes rely on passive case-finding in children. Active tuberculosis screening is recommended only for children with HIV or in contact with infectious tuberculosis cases.8WHOGuidelines for intensified tuberculosis case-finding and isoniazid preventive therapy for people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings. World Health Organization Department of HIV/AIDS; Stop TB Department, Geneva2011Google Scholar A broader active tuberculosis screening would improve the identification of children with presumptive tuberculosis in countries with a high burden of tuberculosis. Particular attention should be given also to young children admitted with severe pneumonia. Recent data have shown that up to 23% of those admitted to hospital with an initial diagnosis of pneumonia were later diagnosed as having tuberculosis.4Oliwa JN Karumbi JM Marais BJ Madhi SA Graham SM Tuberculosis as a cause or comorbidity of childhood pneumonia in tuberculosis-endemic areas: a systematic review.Lancet Respir Med. 2015; 3: 235-243Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (90) Google Scholar To reduce childhood tuberculosis mortality, we need to develop innovative diagnostic approaches with optimised sample collection and testing at primary facilities. We also need to implement early screening and detection in vulnerable children. Improved child contact tracing using community-based approaches and better integration of tuberculosis care in maternal, newborn, and child health services, HIV clinics, and nutrition services will be crucial. We declare no competing interests.