Children and teenagers treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, including those in India, are under-represented in case numbers, studies have found. Researchers have called for a “focus for case-finding efforts” in this age group. A tuberculosis (TB) patient is said to be multidrug-resistant when the bacteria strain causing the infection becomes immune to at least two of the effective drugs.
Multidrug-resistance stands as a challenge in eliminating the bacterial disease, as the complication increases treatment durations which further increases the risks of the spread of the infection. The findings were published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.
Reviewing previous studies, researchers analysed trends in multidrug-resistant treatment of TB in children and teenagers aged 18 or below. One of the reviews, including those from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, analysed 42 studies involving over 23,369 children and teenagers aged 19 or below, mostly from India and South Africa.
The findings revealed that nearly three in every four children or teens were successfully treated, with treatment durations typically lasting 16 months overall.
The authors of the study revealed, “Younger and clinically diagnosed children are under-represented among those treated for MDR (multidrug-resistant) and RR (rifampicin-resistant) tuberculosis and should be a focus for case-finding efforts.”
Rifampicin is a key drug recommended by the World Health Organisation as a first-line treatment for TB.
Further, older teens between 15 and 19 years represented nearly 70 per cent of all the participants. They tend to have disease patterns similar to those seen in adults with TB and in whom it is easier to confirm the diagnosis microbiologically (through lab tests), the authors said.
The authors of the study said that the children aged under 5 were particularly under-represented which is an important limitation as most deaths in children due to TB worldwide are in this age group and who were never started on treatment.
Another review by researchers from the University of Toronto, Canada, looked at 48 studies, including those from India. They found high rates of successful treatment (almost 90 per cent) in children and teenagers with extensively drug-resistant TB — when the infection-causing bacteria is resistant to nearly all available effective drugs.
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