Tuberculosis

Targeted Tuberculin Skin Testing and Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infections in Children and Adolescents. Pediatric Tuberculosis Collaborative Group. Pediatrics. 2004;114 :1175– 1201OpenUrlCrossRefDiagnostic Standards and Classification of Tuberculosis in Adults and Children. American Thoracic Society, CDC, Infectious Disease Society of America. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;161 :1376– 1395OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedTuberculosis. In: Pickering LK, Baker CJ, Long SS, McMillan JA, eds. Red Book: 2006 Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases. 27th ed. Elk Grove, Ill: American Academy of Pediatrics;678– 698

Tuberculosis (TB) is a worldwide scourge, documented in antiquity and reinventing itself with drug resistance and a predilection for the immunodeficient. However, this disease is not confined to the poor and disenfranchised in this global village, and it is no respecter of national borders, being just a plane ride away. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 billion people live with TB, most with latent disease. Some 9 million new cases occur each year, and 5,000 deaths are attributed to TB every day. The United States (US) is spared this high burden of disease. In 2004, an estimated 9.6 to 14.9 million individuals were infected with latent TB, and in 2005, 14,097 adult cases (4.8/100,000 persons) of active disease were reported, an all-time low for the US. In 2005, there also were 863 cases of active TB in children, with 480 of those in children younger than 5 years of age and 383 in those between 5 and 15 years of age, for a rate of 1.4/100,000 children.

The genus Mycobacterium contains M tuberculosis and M bovis, the two most common organisms that cause TB, and the atypical organisms of M scrofulaceum, M kansasii, M marinum, M fortuitum, M chelonei, and …