Abstract

CHAPARRO, Pablo Enrique; GARCIA, Ingrid; GUERRERO, Martha Inírida  and  LEON, Clara Inés. Situación de la tuberculosis en Colombia, 2002. Biomédica [online]. 2004, vol.24, suppl.1, pp.102-114. ISSN 0120-4157.

Situation of tuberculosis in Colombia, 2002 Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important public health problem in Colombia. Therefore, in 2002, the epidemiological behavior of TB was described in order to identify priority interventions for its control. Data were analyzed from the 2002 "Quarterly Report of Cases and Activities" collected by the National TB Program. TB demonstrated a fluctuating behavior during the past decade, particularly until 1997, when regularly increasing trend began. Two thirds of the 32 departments of Colombia had incidence rates above the national average (>26 per 100,000); six departments were classified as being at very high risk (incidence >50 per 100,000). Of 11,376 cases, 7,787 were new pulmonary smear-positive cases; most of them were males aged 25 to 34 years, with the highest incidence in age group 65 or older. A decrease was observed in respiratory symptomatic patients aged 15 years or older. Smear positivity from all patients was 3.8% and the smear average was 1.6 per patient. Follow up indicators are still under the desirable levels.The application of health care guidelines to TB patients by health care institutions, as well as the development of monitoring activities, the report feedback are essential elements in an effective TB control program. However, successful implementation also requires careful supervision at each level of application and political will at local and department levels to adhere to DOTS.

Keywords : tuberculosis; pulmonary tuberculosis; incidence; respiratory symptomatic.

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