By Bisola Adeyemo
Health experts have called on the Federal government to develop the technology to detect Tuberculosis in children faster and to avoid resistance to treatment.
The Chairman, National Committee on Childhood TB, Prof Lawal Umar, who gave the warning at an event on Friday while announcing the national conference on Tuberculosis in November, said providing solutions to TB in childhood will form a major thematic area of discussions at the meeting.
While explaining on the dangers of latent and drug-resistant TB in children, Daily Post reported that the experts emphasised the need to identify the disease early, citing that children’s immune systems predispose them to severe forms of diseases when they are not protected and the disease not detected on time.
Prof Umar, who also chairs the National Committee on Childhood TB, under the National TB and Leprosy Control Program said efforts are now focused on identifying and preventing TB in children.
‘‘We will be deliberating on childhood drug-resistant TB as well as HIV/TB infection in children. Remember that children are still members of the community and because of their growing immune system which is not yet mature; they are most vulnerable and have more chances of progressing to severe diseases the younger they are.
‘‘The TB pandemic is not leaving children out and if you don’t control TB in children many of them may die but others will grow to develop latent TB and that is when they don’t come down with the disease but harbour the organism and keep on growing with it without manifestation until they reach adult life and some risk factor makes it manifest.
Prof Umar said though science has made the detection of TB in adults easy through some delicate technology, such innovations have not helped in detecting the disease in children.
