Symposium: Immunity and infectionTuberculosis in children

The global burden of tuberculosis (TB) in children remains high. There is increasing attention from clinicians and public health perspectives about this trend, as new occurrence of TB in children is a sentinel event and an indicator of ongoing transmission in the community. The variation in clinical presentations, lack of standardized case definition, difficulty in making diagnosis and subsequent notification made the management and control of tuberculosis in pediatric population very challenging. Over the past decade, there are noticeable advances in our understanding of the disease, diagnostics and management TB in children. This article provides an overview and update on the epidemiology, natural history, clinical manifestations, various diagnostic tests and treatment of TB in children.