Epidemiological Aspects of Tuberculosis in Children and Adolescents from 0 to 17 Years Old during the Improved Tuberculosis Situation

Between 2008 and 2018, the overall tuberculosis incidence in Novosibirsk Region went down with the moderate annual decrease of 3.9% on average. By the end of 2018, the number of new tuberculosis cases decreased, while the incidence of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis increased. Tuberculosis situation in children from 0 to 17 years old was characterized by stabilization of incidence. In adolescents, these rates moderately decreased (-2 .9%), and in children under 14 years old, this rate demonstrated the annual growth of 4.8%. In the context of the large burden of tuberculosis infection (2008), in 61.3% of tuberculosis cases in children aged 0-1 7 years, the index case of tuberculosis infection ( ITBI ) was not identified; by 2018, this rate dropped to 30.3%. However, the family exposure to a tuberculosis case was rather a predictor of the disease in children versus adolescents. And among adolescents, the role of casual contacts with ITBI was high (60.6%). Regardless of the epidemic situation, most of the children from 0 to 17 years old who developed tuberculosis were not covered by tuberculosis control activities, one of the reasons was the late detection of the source of tuberculosis infection.