Incidence of Childhood Tuberculosis is 25 Percent Higher than Past Estimates: Study

Childhood tuberculosis cased have surged by 25 percent in recent years, finds a study.

A survey found that every year over 650,000 children living in 22 countries are affected with tuberculosis (TB). The figure is 25 percent higher than the 2012 average annual estimates on TB by the World Health Organization.

The new reports suggest every year around 15 million children are exposed to the TB virus and more than 53 million are living with latent TB infection, which can get active anytime. During 2010, almost 7.6 million children aged below 15 in 22 countries contracted TB-causing bacteria and 650,000 of these children developed the condition. India was recorded as having the highest prevalence of childhood TB cases, with 27 percent of the total worldwide disease rate.

"Our findings highlight an enormous opportunity for preventive antibiotic treatment among the 15 million children younger than 15 years of age who are living in the same household as an adult with infectious TB," said Peter Dodd, study author and researcher from the University of  Sheffield in U.K, reports the Health Day News.

The countries with maximum risk rate for the infection and death caused by TB include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, DR Congo, Ethiopia,  India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. Majority of the TB cases in these nations are either over-diagnosed or missed during national TB programs. Approximately, 34 percent of adults with the condition miss out receiving treatment for TB.

"These findings show that what often has been taken as truth  that control of tuberculosis in adults will inevitably result in improved tuberculosis control for children is fallacious as a stand-alone control strategy," Andrea Cruz and Jeffrey Starke, researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, wrote in an accompanying editorial, reports the Health Day News.

More information is available online in the journal of the Lancet Global Health.