Over 650,000 children develop tuberculosis (TB) every year in the 22 countries with a high burden of the disease, almost 25 percent higher than the number estimated by WHO in 2012, according to research published Wednesday in the British medical journal The Lancet.
The research, led by experts at the University of Sheffield, also suggests that about 15 million children are exposed to TB every year, and roughly 53 million are living with latent TB infection, which can progress to infectious active TB at any time.
Previous estimates were reliant on pediatric case reporting, which varies widely between countries. The researchers took a complementary approach using mathematical modeling.
The findings show that about 7.6 million children below 15 in the 22 high-burden countries became infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis in 2010, and roughly 650,000 developed TB. India had by far the highest burden of childhood TB, accounting for 27 percent of the total burden in these countries.
"Our findings highlight an enormous opportunity for preventive antibiotic treatment among the 15 million children who are living in the same household as an adult with infectious TB," said lead author Peter Dodd from the University of Sheffield.
He added: "Wider use of isoniazid therapy for these children as a preventative measure would probably substantially reduce the numbers of children who go on to develop the disease."