Despite the lack of attention paid by effective control programs, childhood tuberculosis still
remains an important public health problem. Identifying and treating tuberculosis infection and disease
in children can also provide long-term benefits to tuberculosis control, preventing future cases due to
reactivation. Rates of childhood tuberculosis appear to be rising, particularly in countries with
generalized HIV epidemics. Data on childhood tuberculosis treatment outcomes is scarce.
Unfortunately, measuring the true burden of childhood tuberculosis in any country is extremely
difficult, because no diagnostic test performs well in childhood tuberculosis. Thus, in 25%-50% of
childhood tuberculosis the tuberculin skin test may be invariably negative and, hence, much more
progress needs to be made in obtaining better and faster diagnostic methods. Thus, perspectives at a
management level are briefly described in this chapter in order to provide an update regarding recent
advances in diagnosing tuberculosis.
Keywords: Tuberculosis, Children, Treatment, Antibiotic, Side Effects.
