Know TB to No TB: IAP presidential action plan 2014

These were the famous words of Edith Lincoln – a pioneer in the field of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) – who originally observed the natural history of tubercular infection and disease in children, about half a century ago [1]. Today, millions of children are exposed to adult tuberculosis which reports an alarming trend of multidrug-resistant (MDR: resistant to at least rifampicin and isoniazid) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR: additionally resistant to a fluoroquinolone and kanamycin/amikacin/capreomycin) strains. The threat of drug resistance in children has become a reality with the WHO global report 2013 [2] stating that a child with TB is as likely as an adult with TB to have MDR-TB. It is estimated that anywhere between 10000 and 20000 children in India might be acquiring MDR-TB every year [3].