Tuberculosis affects 1 million children annually: Study
by The Daily Eye Team April 1 2014, 2:47 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 40 secsHarvard researchers believe that over one million children suffer from tuberculosis annually — twice the number previously thought to have TB. Experts from the university and Brigham and Women’s Hospital fear that one-third of these children may be suffering from drug-resistant tuberculosis that is extremely difficult to treat. The study was published in The Lancet on Sunday. Pediatric TB is emerging as one of the most neglected areas in tuberculosis; there isn’t even special drugs meant for the pediatric population. In fact, the World Health Organization’s Tuberculosis Report 2013 had noted that a child with TB is as likely as an adult with TB to have MDR-TB (multi-drug resistant TB). India too has very little information about the spread of the disease among the pediatric population.