Access in Action: How UCSF is Expanding Care to Support San Francisco’s Pediatric TB Response | Department of Pediatrics

When a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak emerged at a San Francisco high school at the end of 2025, the scale was immediately clear. More than 1,200 students required evaluation, with high rates of infection...

pediatrics.ucsf.edu

30 Years of Progress in Pediatric Tuberculosis (and So Much More to Do) - Ann Loeffler, MD (4/17/25)

YouTube video by UCSF Pediatrics

youtu.be

Integrated treatment-decision algorithms for childhood TB: modelling diagnostic performance and costs

SUMMARYBACKGROUNDTo improve childhood TB diagnosis, treatment-decision algorithms (TDAs) with and without chest X-ray (CXR) were developed for children under age 10. We aimed to model diagnostic performance and costs of implementing TDAs in primary health centre (PHC) and district hospital (DH) settings in Uganda.METHODSWe developed decision-tree models following the TDA pathway from evaluation to treatment-decision. We compared six scenarios with combinations of diagnostic testing (stool and respiratory Xpert, urine lipoarabinomannan, and/or CXR) at PHCs and DHs. Outcomes were diagnostic accuracy and cost per correct treatment-decision for a cohort of 10,000 children with presumptive TB using a Monte Carlo simulation from a health system perspective. Costs were reported in 2024 international dollars (I$).RESULTSIn all scenarios, TDAs had high sensitivity (80.8%–91.9%) but low specificity (50.9%–60.9%). Total diagnostic and treatment costs for the cohort were I$1,768,958–2,470,298, largely driven by overtreatment of false-positive cases. Diagnostic costs were mostly offset by reducing overtreatment. The cost per treatment-decision was lowest using mobile CXR at PHCs (I$287) and highest with DH referral (I$449).CONCLUSIONThe TDAs have high sensitivity and can be implemented at PHCs with lower costs than DHs. Improving specificity and reducing treatment costs would enable affordable, large-scale implementation.

journals.theunion.org

Computer-aided reading of chest radiographs for paediatric tuberculosis: current status and future directions

Computer-aided detection (CAD) systems for automated reading of chest x-rays (CXRs) have been developed and approved for tuberculosis triage in adults but not in children. However, CXR is frequently t...

thelancet.com

ctca.org

Plasma proteomics for biomarker discovery in childhood tuberculosis - Nature Communications

In this work, through a comprehensive proteomics approach, the authors identified host plasma protein biosignatures that could distinguish tuberculosis (TB) disease in children.

bit.ly

Plasma proteomics for biomarker discovery in childhood tuberculosis - Nature Communications

In this work, through a comprehensive proteomics approach, the authors identified host plasma protein biosignatures that could distinguish tuberculosis (TB) disease in children.

nature.com

Parallel use of low‐complexity automated nucleic acid amplification tests and lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan assays to detect tuberculosis disease in adults and adolescents living with HIV - Bjerrum, S - 2025 | Cochrane Library

Select your preferred language for Cochrane reviews and other content. Sections without translation will be in English.

cochranelibrary.com

Stool processing methods for Xpert Ultra testing in childhood tuberculosis: A prospective, multi-country accuracy study

AbstractBackground. Centrifuge-free processing methods support stool Xpert Ultra testing for childhood tuberculosis (TB), but there are limited data on the

academic.oup.com

A prospective evaluation of a three-gene host response signature to classify tuberculosis severity in children

AbstractBackground. Children with non-severe TB may benefit from short-course treatment, but point-of-care tools are needed to stratify disease severity. W

doi.org

The Accuracy of the Uganda National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program diagnostic algorithm and the World Health Organisation treatment decision algorithms for childhood tuberculosis: A retrospective an...

Author summary In this study, we assessed and compared the accuracy of the 2017 Uganda National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) algorithm with the 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) Treatment Decision...

journals.plos.org

Tuberculosis Research at the National Institutes of Health - Saving Lives, Shrinking Costs, Fueling American Jobs and Innovation – Treatment Action Group

This policy brief describes the crucial role NIH plays in supporting research on new products to prevent, diagnose, and cure TB. This research is especially important at a time when new forms of drug ...

treatmentactiongroup.org

Opinion | Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. (Gift Article)

A journey through the front lines of global poverty shows that when the world’s richest men slash aid for the world’s poorest children, the result is sickness, starvation and death.

nytimes.com

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order

The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

nytimes.com

hhs.gov