PlusNews examines the difficulties in diagnosing and treating multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in children, writing, “With weaker immune systems, children who contract TB — most often from parents — progress to active disease in about a year. But just how many children are affected is not known as there is almost no research into children and MDR-TB — and very little useful guidance on how to treat them.”

“With a small number of studies indicating the scope of MDR-TB among children, high-level awareness of the problem is lacking, according to Carlos Perez Velez, who is leading a study on new diagnostic methods to improve TB case detection among children in his native Colombia as part of his work with the U.S.-based National Jewish Health respiratory hospital,” PlusNews writes. The news service presents findings from select studies and writes, “WHO, the U.K. and U.S. have developed guidelines for pediatric MDR-TB treatment, but these are largely not evidence-based and, in some cases, may have been simply adapted from adult guidelines, noted” James Seddon, a researcher at the Desmond Tutu TB Centre in Cape Town, South Africa (11/8).