Young children living with an adult who has infectious pulmonary TB are at high risk of infection and of progressing quickly to severe disease, including TB meningitis. Contact screening — symptom review, examination and, where indicated, testing — is standard, and preventive treatment is offered to eligible young contacts once active disease is excluded.
In India this is part of the national TB programme. The step most often missed is asking the adult patient who lives with them.
- Ask every adult with pulmonary TB which children live in the household.
- Screen child contacts for cough, fever, weight loss and reduced activity.
- Exclude active disease before starting preventive treatment.
- Follow national programme guidance on preventive therapy for young child contacts.
Why it matters
Childhood TB is usually found by tracing the adult, not by the child presenting.
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