Improving Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in HIV Infected Children in Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam)and Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon)

Improving Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in HIV Infected Children in Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam) and Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon) ANRS 12229 PAANTHER 01 (Pediatric Asian African Network for Tuberculosis and HIV Research)

Childhood tuberculosis (TB) accounts for 11% of the total 9 million annual TB cases and the difficulty of its diagnosis is increased in case of HIV infection in children.

The aim of this study is to improve TB diagnosis in HIV-infected children by developing a new diagnostic algorithm incorporating new tools available such as:

• interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs), as alternative to the tuberculin skin test
• alternative specimen collection methods such as string test (or Enterotest (R)), nasopharyngeal aspirates and stools samples, as alternatives to gastric aspirate
• the Xpert MTB/RIF assay

Inclusion Criteria:

• children aged from 0 to 13 years
• confirmed HIV infection
• suspicion of tuberculosis
• informed consent signed by at least one parent or guardian
• on ARVs or not

Exclusion Criteria:

• history of anti TB treatment started in the past 2 years
• on going tuberculosis treatment
• Suspicion of exclusive extra-thoracic tuberculosis