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As in adults, TB treatment in children and adolescents includes a 2-month intensive phase followed by a continuation phase of 2–4 months. In the intensive phase, TB bacilli are rapidly killed to prevent disease progression, transmission and development of drug resistance. In the continuation phase, dormant bacilli are eliminated to effect cure and prevent relapse.
Case detection is a crucial step in the cascade of care for children with TB; however, for most children who die from TB, the disease is never diagnosed (80). Children and adolescents who are younger than 15 years represented approximately 12% of incident cases but 16% of the estimated 1.4 million deaths from TB in 2019 (1). This relatively higher share of mortality in children highlights the urgent need for improved case detection and subsequent access to preventive and curative treatment in this age group, particularly for those at highest risk.
TB remains the primary cause of AIDS-related morbidity and mortality worldwide, despite impressive scale up of antiretroviral treatment (ART). In 2019, TB was associated with an estimated 208 000 (30%) AIDS-related deaths (1). Global estimates show a 44% gap in case detection among people with HIVassociated TB (1). A systematic review of postmortem studies of global AIDS-related deaths in adults found TB to be the primary cause of death in 37.2% of cases (95% CI: 25.7–48.7). TB was undiagnosed prior to death in 45.8% of cases (95% CI: 32.6–59.1) (75).
Countries should position the W4SS, CRP, CXR and mWRD in combination with diagnostic evaluation using mWRDs and LF-LAM (8) within national TB screening and diagnostic algorithms according to their feasibility, the level of the health facility, resources and equity. Algorithms exploring the available screening tools are presented in the operational handbook, including modelled performance of accuracy and yield (7).
Across all populations and tools, more research is needed to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of complete screening and diagnostic algorithms, including symptom screening, CXR, CRP and mWRDs used in various combinations with diagnostic evaluation. Research into their effectiveness should include measures of the impacts on patient-important outcomes, such as mortality and treatment success.
For people living with HIV in settings with different TB prevalences, more research is needed to evaluate the accuracy and predictive value of measuring CRP above any cut-off higher than 5 mg/L for TB screening, when it is used either alone or in combination with other screening tests.
