Operational Handbooks

This chapter summarizes the treatment options available for children and adolescents to treat drug-susceptible TB and DR-TB and pulmonary and extrapulmonary forms of TB (including TBM), and considerations related to post-TB health. It includes operational guidance on various new treatment approaches, including a 4-month treatment regimen, and important implementation considerations such as availability of child-friendly formulations and access to all key medicines for the treatment of DR-TB.

Screening tests should distinguish between people with a high likelihood of having TB disease from those who are unlikely to have TB. A screening test is not intended to be diagnostic but rather to identify the subgroup of people with the highest likelihood of disease. Screening must always be conducted with a screening and diagnostic algorithm; thus, if people screen positive, they are referred to the next step in the algorithm, which could be a subsequent screening tool or diagnostic evaluation with bacteriological testing to confirm or rule out TB disease.

Risk groups include groups at high risk of exposure to TB or of progression to TB disease or who have limited access to TB services. The following risk groups should always be systematically screened for TB: