Tuberculosis in children
TB is a family and social disease, with transmission occurring within the home and congregate settings such as educational environments. Infants and pre-school children are at high risk of progressing to TB disease following exposure, and of developing the most severe forms of disease such as miliary TB and TB meningitis, whilst adolescence is another high risk period with its own social and treatment challenges. Yet children and young people have historically been neglected in terms of public health and research, due to the difficulties in making a microbiological diagnosis (and hence being notified to public health), and the fact that children and young people tend to be less infectious. We wish to ensure that clinical care for children and young people affected by TB in East London is improved as much as it is for adults through our research, and that children and young people have the same right to participate in observational studies as their parents do. Ongoing international programs of work on paediatric TB include diagnostic evaluation, correlates of protective immunity and biomarker identification.
Projects
Identifying correlates of risk for future tuberculosis disease progression in children (INTREPID)