• Usually the result of:
    • maternal history of TB in pregnancy
    • baby exposed to a close (usually household) contact with sputum positive TB 
  • Effective management requires liaison between obstetric, neonatal, TB and paediatric ID teams 

Risk factors for TB in newborn period

  • Baby is at risk of acquiring TB if:
    • mother received treatment for <2 weeks or treated for >2 weeks but sputum smear positive
    • mother diagnosed with TB in postpartum period and/or after commencing breastfeeding 
    • close household contact has sputum positive TB

Congenital TB

  • Acquired from transplacental spread or at birth
  • Rare but potentially devastating infection with high mortality
  • Characterised by primary focus in liver, hepatosplenomegaly and a miliary or disseminated picture including respiratory dissemination and TB meningitis 

Neonatal TB

  • Much more common than congenital infection 
  • Baby infected through respiratory route from infected mother or other close contact 
  • Baby highly susceptible to severe respiratory and disseminated disease including TB meningitis and miliary TB 
Date updated:

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