Childhood Tuberculosis-Advances in Treatment and Prevention.

Tuberculosis (TB) in childhood presents a substantial global burden with nearly two million episodes of disease in children and adolescents annually. The majority of children who die from TB never receive appropriate treatment. Advancements in childhood TB treatments have been slow and there are many challenges with TB treatment in children. However, recently, there have been renewed efforts toward better options for TB treatment in children. The shortened duration of treatment (4 months) in nonsevere TB and an all-oral treatment for multidrug-resistant TB are major landmarks in childhood TB treatment. Although BCG remains the only vaccine for TB prevention, there are candidate vaccines that target infants and adolescents.