Pediatric Tuberculosis Research and Development: Progress, Priorities and Funding Opportunities

McKenna, Lindsay; Sari, Ani Herna; Mane, Sushant; Scardigli, Anna; Brigden, Grania; Rouzier, Vanessa; Becerra, Mercedes C.; Hesseling, Anneke C.; Amanullah, Farhana

doi:10.3390/pathogens11020128

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Children < 5 years old are at higher risk of developing ATB and pose an increased risk of severe forms of the disease [ 71 ]. Despite the specificity of IGRA for BCG-vaccinated individuals, this test has not been entirely validated by the CDC for testing in children < 5 years old because fewer studies had been conducted previously, the difficulty in blood collection, and the high rate of indeterminate results [ 72 , 73 ].…”

Section: Screening Tests For Tbimentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and the Way forward in Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis Infection

et al. 2023

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Globally, it is estimated that one-quarter of the world’s population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), also known as latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Recently, this condition has been referred to as tuberculosis infection (TBI), considering the dynamic spectrum of the infection, as 5–10% of the latently infected population will develop active TB (ATB). The chances of TBI development increase due to close contact with index TB patients. The emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and the risk of development of latent MDR-TB has further complicated the situation. Detection of TBI is challenging as the infected individual does not present symptoms. Currently, there is no gold standard for TBI diagnosis, and the only screening tests are tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs). However, these tests have several limitations, including the inability to differentiate between ATB and TBI, false-positive results in BCG-vaccinated individuals (only for TST), false-negative results in children, elderly, and immunocompromised patients, and the inability to predict the progression to ATB, among others. Thus, new host markers and Mtb-specific antigens are being tested to develop new diagnostic methods. Besides screening, TBI therapy is a key intervention for TB control. However, the long-course treatment and associated side effects result in non-adherence to the treatment. Additionally, the latent MDR strains are not susceptible to the current TBI treatments, which add an additional challenge. This review discusses the current situation of TBI, as well as the challenges and efforts involved in its control.

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Section: Screening Tests For Tbimentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and the Way forward in Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis Infection

et al. 2023

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Section: Pediatric Tuberculosismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…About 1.1 million children fall ill with TB annually and approximately 230,000 deaths (including those living with HIV) were recorded in 2020 [ 2 , 20 , 33 ]. Studies have shown that reported statistics do not provide a true reflection of the global pediatric TB burden because most often, many cases go undiagnosed or unreported and as such, the global statistics could be much higher [ 6 , 20 , 33 , 34 ]. It has been observed that most reported pediatric fatalities occur in children who are not receiving any TB treatment, meaning that efforts geared towards identifying groups at risk of infection, effective diagnosis, and appropriate treatment require urgent improvement and implementation to significantly reduce TB mortality in children.…”

Section: Pediatric Tuberculosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pediatric Tuberculosis Management: A Global Challenge or Breakthrough?

et al. 2022

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Managing pediatric tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem requiring urgent and long-lasting solutions as TB is one of the top ten causes of ill health and death in children as well as adolescents universally. Minors are particularly susceptible to this severe illness that can be fatal post-infection or even serve as reservoirs for future disease outbreaks. However, pediatric TB is the least prioritized in most health programs and optimal infection/disease control has been quite neglected for this specialized patient category, as most scientific and clinical research efforts focus on developing novel management strategies for adults. Moreover, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has meaningfully hindered the gains and progress achieved with TB prophylaxis, therapy, diagnosis, and global eradication goals for all affected persons of varying age bands. Thus, the opening of novel research activities and opportunities that can provide more insight and create new knowledge specifically geared towards managing TB disease in this specialized group will significantly improve their well-being and longevity.

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“…One of the key messages from numerous WHO, STOP-TB Partnership and other global public health expert advisory groups over the past 2 decades have been that increased investment to accelerate TB research and development and bring new diagnostics, biomarkers, transcriptomic blood gene signatures, therapeutics, and vaccines to clinical practice would bring an end the TB pandemic (Mulenga H et al, 2022;Chaisson & Harrington, 2009;Marais B et al, 2010;Raviglione M et al, 2012;Tiberi S et al, 2018;Vjecha MJ et al, 2018;WHO, 2018;WHO, 2021). Adult and paediatric TB research has always been chronically underfunded and the need for more investments into development of new and more patient friendly transformative diagnostics to cover all causes of RTIs, better treatment regimens, preventive vaccines and more recently call for a more precision and personalized medicine and approach to management of RTIs to effect holistic management outcomes (Kumar K et al, 2021;Lange C et al, 2020;Rao M et al, 2019;Nicolau I et al, 2012;McKenna L et al, 2022;Grundner C, 2018;Gebreselassie N et al 2019).…”

Section: Justification For Priority Blue Skies Research On Tuberculosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue Skies research is essential for ending the Tuberculosis pandemic and advancing a personalized medicine approach for holistic management of Respiratory Tract infections.

Ntoumi¹,

Petersen²,

Mwaba³

et al. 2022

International Journal of Infectious Diseases

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Pediatric Tuberculosis Research and Development: Progress, Priorities and Funding Opportunities

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Challenges and the Way forward in Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis Infection

Challenges and the Way forward in Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis Infection

Pediatric Tuberculosis Management: A Global Challenge or Breakthrough?

Blue Skies research is essential for ending the Tuberculosis pandemic and advancing a personalized medicine approach for holistic management of Respiratory Tract infections.

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