Annual campaign to combat tuberculosis begins in Manaus, the capital with the highest incidence of the disease

Manaus (AM) – The annual Mobilization and Fight against Tuberculosis campaign began, this Tuesday (5), in Manaus. The action took place through the Municipal Health Department (Semsa), in the Parque das Tribos community, in the Tarumã-Açu neighborhood, West Zone of the capital, and should intensify disease prevention and control actions in Basic Health Units (UBSs). Manaus is the Brazilian capital with the highest incidence of tuberculosis.

The action was carried out at Maloca do Parque das Tribos with the offer of medical care with a general practitioner, infectious disease specialist and pediatrician; sputum test collection for respiratory symptoms (people with a cough for two weeks or more); measurement of blood pressure, blood glucose and evaluation of anthropometric measurements; educational activities about tuberculosis; rapid testing for HIV (Self-test); and provision of condoms.

In 2023, Manaus recorded 2,816 cases of tuberculosis, which represents 124 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, placing the municipality as the Brazilian capital with the highest incidence of the disease. This year, the number of records reached 277 cases of tuberculosis.

The campaign continues until March 27, focusing on identifying new cases and evaluating contacts of tuberculosis patients, who are people who live closely and for a long time with patients diagnosed with active tuberculosis.

Semsa’s Undersecretary of Health Management, Djalma Coelho, highlighted the importance for the population to seek a health unit when there are symptoms of tuberculosis, such as coughing for two weeks or more, weight loss, lack of appetite, low fever at the end afternoon, night sweats, chest and back pain.

“The current management has invested heavily in early detection of the disease, offering diagnostic tests, as well as treatment in all health units in the municipal network. All the work is done so that we can solve this public health problem that affects the population, especially the most vulnerable people, at nutritional risk and immunosuppressed”,

said Djalma Coelho.

According to the head of Semsa’s Tuberculosis Control Center, nurse Alexandre Inomata, the campaign is yet another strategy to alert the population about the disease, expanding information to the general public about symptoms, diagnosis, forms of transmission and prevention.

The nurse highlighted that tuberculosis has a treatment and cure, and that the Ministry of Health’s goal is to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem by 2030. To this end, Semsa has been strengthening health services to intensify awareness about the disease and reinforce the active search for new cases.

“The campaign will intensify the actions carried out during the year in routine care, in partnership with schools, promoting lectures, reinforcing the offer of sputum testing for people with symptoms and the evaluation of people who are contacts of patients diagnosed with the disease ”, informed Alexandre Inomata.

Alert

During the health action, the director of Epidemiological, Environmental Surveillance, Zoonoses and Occupational Health (Dvae/Semsa), Marinélia Ferreira, warned that people who live closely and for a long time with patients diagnosed with active tuberculosis should also seek a health unit for evaluation by a professional.

“Tuberculosis is a communicable disease and contacts of patients with active tuberculosis, especially those living in the same household, must be examined to diagnose or rule out the disease, or to identify cases of latent tuberculosis, which occurs when a person has been infected. by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but does not yet have active tuberculosis. In the case of latent infection, the health network offers preventive treatment to prevent the patient from developing the disease in the future”, highlighted Marinelia.

The state coordinator of the Tuberculosis Control Program of the Amazonas Health Surveillance Foundation – Dr. Rosemary Costa Pinto (FVS-RCP), Lara Bezerra, reported that Amazonas, which is the state with the highest incidence of the disease in Brazil, is developing the campaign addressing the theme “Prevention is the best strategy”.

According to the coordinator, tuberculosis prevention can be done with strategies such as: vaccination with BCG recommended for newborns to children under five years of age, which protects children against serious forms of the disease; early diagnosis to start treatment, which will interrupt the transmission chain 15 days after starting to take medication; and preventive treatment of tuberculosis for cases of latent tuberculosis.

“A quarter of the world’s population is infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or has had contact with the bacteria at some point in their lives. These people do not show signs and symptoms of the disease. But among these infected people, 5% to 10% will fall ill from tuberculosis in the coming years”, Lara pointed out.

The groups most at risk of becoming ill, explained Lara, are contacts of patients with active tuberculosis, people living with HIV/AIDS and people with immunosuppressive diseases.

“Thus, the main strategy is to identify these groups and investigate for latent infection, which has preventive treatment that reduces the risk of developing active tuberculosis by up to 90%. With this, it is possible to break the chain of transmission even before it becomes a case of tuberculosis”, highlighted the coordinator, remembering that a person with tuberculosis, without treatment, can infect around eight to 15 people each year.

For Parque das Tribos resident Elcineia Marinho, from the Apurinã people, guidance on tuberculosis is important for people to understand the seriousness of the disease.

“Many people don’t care about tuberculosis, they don’t take the disease seriously. That’s why it’s important to have health actions, so that people understand that it’s a disease that gets worse and affects the lungs, which is a very important organ, but which has treatment and cure”, highlighted Elcineia.

Streaming

An infectious and transmissible disease, tuberculosis is caused by the mycobacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Koch’s Bacillus (BK), which primarily affects the lungs. The main symptom is cough (dry or with phlegm) and therefore the recommendation is for people with a cough for two weeks or more to be examined, looking for one of the Health Units in the municipal network to carry out tests.

Transmission of the disease occurs when, when talking, sneezing and, especially, coughing, people with active tuberculosis, without yet starting treatment, release particles into the air in the form of aerosols that contain bacilli, which can transmit the disease to other people, that is, the bacillus is transmitted through the air and infection occurs through breathing. On the other hand, tuberculosis cannot be transmitted through sex, contaminated blood, kissing, glasses or cutlery, clothing or other objects.

*With information from consultancy

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