International Tuberculosis Day: what makes it difficult to treat the disease in Brazil
On March 24, International Day to Combat Tuberculosis, the president of the Brazilian Society of Pneumology and Phthisiology, Margareth Dalcolmo, spoke in an interview with CBN radio about the situation of the disease in Brazil.
Tuberculosis, an infectious disease that records 70,000 new cases every year, affects the lungs and common symptoms of the disease are cough, fever, tiredness and fatigue.
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According to the doctor, who is a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and ambassador of the National Movement for Vaccination, the current mortality of the disease, which kills almost 5,000 people annually, is “unjustifiable”.
“In a disease that is benign, diagnosable and treatable, this is not justified. This reveals a relative lack of self-care and a poor response from the SUS services that should be responding, actively searching for symptomatic patients, checking contacts,” he stated.
She explained that, in Brazil, the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis is provided by the SUS, which has medications for simple and complex cases.
One of the issues that complicate treatment is the irregular use of medications and the lack of testing of people who come into contact with those diagnosed. “When a case is detected, it is absolutely necessary that we examine all members of that family,” he points out.
Another problem is the decrease in coverage of vaccines such as BCG, which prevents serious forms of dissemination of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is also a markedly social disease, and more frequent in the prison population. “Frankly, we are ashamed of the incidence of tuberculosis in the prison population. While the Brazilian average is 31 per 100,000 inhabitants, the incidence in most Brazilian prisons is 2,000 per 100,000. This is unacceptable,” he states.
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