Project Lead(s): Madhukar Pai
In 2015, there were an estimated 1 million incident cases of tuberculosis in children younger than 15 years of age, and as many as 210,000 children died of tuberculosis. About 75 percent of all childhood tuberculosis cases occur in the 30 high burden countries, the majority of which are in sub-Sahara Africa. Differentiating tuberculosis from other respiratory diseases in children is difficult, especially if diagnosis relies on clinical and X-ray features or microbiological tests, since children often cannot produce sputum from deep in the throat.
This project will validate a novel diagnostic biosignature to distinguish tuberculosis disease from other respiratory diseases among children in Malawi and The Gambia. This biosignature has the potential to be developed into a non-sputum-based point-of-care test.
The biosignature was previously identified in HIV-negative children. The project will use archived and new samples obtained from children with suspected tuberculosis. Analysis of the samples will be carried out at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia (MRCG).
