Study Confirms One Million Undetected Cases of TB in Children

Researchers say that around one million children contact tuberculosis annually, which goes undetected, according to a new study.

This is twice the number previously thought and three times the number of diagnosed cases.  The researchers also estimate that around 32,000 children have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis annually.

The findings are published in the journal Lancet to observe World Tuberculosis day and raise awareness on the widespread attack of the infectious disease caused by various strains of bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The authors examined 3,403 papers and found 31 studies that reported untreated cases of multidrug-resistance to Tuberculosis in children. They estimated around 32,000 children who have multidrug-resistance to the Tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

Helen Jenkins, lead statistician and researcher from the Brigham and Women's Hospital's Division of Global Health Equity said, "A huge proportion (of children) are suffering and dying from TB unnecessarily," reports Reuters.

Previous studies have never been able to determine the exact reasons for the prevalence of MDR-TB in children. They are more susceptible to contract infections that spread in various parts of the body including brain and bone marrow apart from lungs. Also, children exhibit symptoms that are different from adults that make identification of these infections rather difficult.  In adults, the bacteria primarily invade the lungs. TB is an air borne disease.

Mercedes Beccera, professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said, "Children have less bacteria and their disease is actually different than adults.  It presents differently," reports Voice of America.

According to the data by the World Health Organization reports, 8.6 million people were affected with TB in 2012 and about 1.3 million succumbed to the disease. In the same year, almost 530,000 children around the world became ill with TB.

Ted Cohen, co-author and associate professor of medicine at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital said, "Despite children comprising approximately one quarter of the world's population, there have been no previous estimates of how many suffer from MDR-TB disease."

The authors emphasized on keeping a strict watch on children susceptible to the disease and to develop new drugs and treatments to achieve disease control.