On this World Tuberculosis Day 2022 The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that tuberculosis continues as one of the most common chronic infectious diseases and deadliest in the world. Every day, approximately four thousand people lose their lives for this cause; on average, 28,000 get it.
World Tuberculosis Day: an ancient disease that continues without being eradicated
In 2019, the Ministry of Health of the federal government of Mexico reported that the mortality rate was 1.59 per hundred thousand inhabitants. In 1990, 7.54 for the same number of inhabitants.
The academic of the Faculty of Medicine (FM) of the UNAMAntonia Isabel Castillo Rodal, highlights that it is an ancient disease. However, it has not been possible to eradicate it. Despite the above, progress is being made in reducing the number of cases and deaths it produces.
He emphasizes that in 2019 the WHO reported that there had to be 23 thousand to 37 thousand cases in Mexico. It is an encouraging fact because it is observed a slow reductionalthough constant in the number of cases in the last 30 years.
There is a high frequency of tuberculosis cases in Tamaulipas
Data from various health organizations (SSA, WHO and CDC) have indicated on several occasions that the highest incidence rate is recorded in individuals living in overcrowding and extreme poverty, as are the prisons. A 2021 investigation by Curry J. and collaborators in Mexico, indicates the high frequency of cases in Tamaulipasa state that serves as a point of reference for migration to the United States.
“They explain that their desire to cross the northern border leads them to live overcrowded for a long time, and that is where they contract tuberculosis. An infectious, contagious, chronic and easily transmitted disease (especially in people who live in confined spaces). Which predominantly affects the lungs, but can also damage any other tissue,” Castillo Rodal details.
an ancient disease
This condition, remember, has accompanied the human being for centuries. In fact, the first reports mention its presence in India, 3,300 years ago. While in China it was 2,300 years ago.
He states that in 1882, on March 24. Day established by the WHO to commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day. Robert Koch unveiled the bacillus that causes the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. What opened the way to his diagnosis and cure.
From then on, the search for a treatment began.
The expert abounds that 80 percent of cases are at the pulmonary level, the rest is recorded in other tissues (lymph nodes, kidneys, bones, joints, etc.). in any way, The treatment is the sameis free and can cure up to 99 percent of cases if there is adherence to it during the indicated six months.
Likewise, the pharmaceutical therapy it must be controlled and strictly supervised to ensure that the patient complies with the prescription.
Although the incidence in Mexico is low compared to Eastern countries or India, the nation ranks third in resistance to antimicrobials intended to treat it. happens by bacterial factors, genetics of the individual and due to lack of adherence to treatment. India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, among others, is where there are more cases.
Prevention
BCG, he says, was discovered 100 years ago and is the most applied vaccine in the world: each year about 100 million individuals are immunized. Since its inception, more than four billion doses have been administered.
This reagent prevents severe forms of tuberculosis and it protects 50 percent of the population that receives it. It is still unknown why it does not generate 100 percent immunity, which is why new biologicals are being tested.
He warns that since the health crisis caused by COVID-19, the last two years have been problematic because the detection and treatment of tuberculosis, as well as the application of the BCG vaccine, were interrupted. “Due to its evolution, we must be alert, because surely in the short term both the number of cases and deaths will increase.”
He comments that in 2019 his colleague Lourdes García stated that tuberculosis resistance causes this condition to go from being curable to low cost. To a disease in which only the half of the patients at a higher price and with significant toxic effects.
Indeed, he continues, can be preventable and curable and thereby significantly reduce the number of cases and deaths. However, actions must be multiplied for this.
Antonia Isabel Castillo recommends that the population be attentive to their state of health. “If we have a frequent cough that does not go away, night fever and weight loss, there is no need to hesitate to go to the doctor.” In addition, infants and children should receive the BCG vaccine, as well as the complete vaccination schedule to protect them.
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