COVID-19 and Tuberculosis Coinfection: An Observational Study

of hospital stay in COVID-19 patients with TB, and treatment of COVID-19 in TB. Materials a n d Methods Study DesignA retrospective observational study was done at a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, India.Children with TB and those without TB were enrolled in the study.According to National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme of India guidelines dated September 2020, 10 all patients diagnosed (both new and ongoing treatment) with TB must be checked for COVID-19 and vice versa.We enrolled all patients visiting inpatient and outpatient departments from introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 is a highly infectious disease with a wide range of symptoms, from asymptomatic to severe respiratory distress syndrome, that may even lead to death. 1 Around 35 million individuals have been impacted by COVID-19 in India, with children accounting for 8.5% of them. [2][3]3][4] Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) coinfection with other microbes seems to provide a substantial barrier for COVID-19 infected individuals' care and prognosis.One such connection is coinfection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 5uberculosis was the leading cause of mortality from any single infectious illness in 2020, with India accounting for 26% of worldwide TB cases. 6Children aged 15 years accounted for 16% of all TB cases worldwide. 6In high-TB burden nations, there are a significant number of individuals with post-TB lung sequelae, and the prognosis of COVID-19 in such patients is not known. 7Because viral respiratory infections and TB both impair the host's immune responses, their fatal synergism may lead to more severe clinical evolution.Despite the fast-increasing number of cases, the evidence required to forecast the impact of the COVID-19 on individuals with latent TB and TB sequelae is still lacking. 8o our knowledge, there is no research done to date that has shown a link between TB and COVID-19 except a study by Tadolini et al. 9 ; that too was on the adult population.It is critical to accurately estimate the relationship between TB and COVID-19 severity and outcomes to develop effective treatment options for all age groups, including children.In this paper, we looked at how COVID-19 infection affected children and adolescents with TB, factors associated with COVID-19 positive status in TB, duration 1,2,4-