TB is in the global top 10 leading causes of death in children under five. Migration and international travel have caused TB rates to have risen even in typically low burden countries. A child with infected TB may not have active disease. As a result, children are at risk of becoming reservoirs where TB may become reactivated in adulthood thus fuelling the future epidemic.
Professor Ben Marais from the Marie Bashir Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, discusses paediatric TB testing, diagnosis, epidemiology, COVID-19, drug resistance in a resource-limited setting, and general TB treatment.