Abstract

HIDALGO PEREIRA, Félix Ibrahim; MARTINEZ LOPEZ, Guillermo; FERNANDEZ JUVIEL, Ana Isabel  and  MONTE-NEGRO CALDERON, Tamara. Epidemiological characterization of leprosy in Cumanayagua municipality (1983-2012). Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2014, vol.52, n.2, pp.163-172. ISSN 1561-3003.

Introduction: leprosy is a communicable chronic infectious disease affecting humans and caused by Mycrobacterium leprae. Never before has the world community been so close to have full control of this illness, so it is necessary to make every effort to reach this goal. Objective: to describe some epidemiological characteristics of leprosy in Cumanayagua municipality during the period of 1983 through 2012. Methods: descriptive study of some case series about patients diagnosed with Hausen’s disease in Cumanayagua municipality from 1983 to 2012. The universe of study included 38 cases in the period. The results were based on a database management system through the statistical package SPSS 15.00 for data processing. Results: long periods of silence were confirmed during the study phase; uncertain leprosy and tuberculoid type prevailed. The most affected age group was 35 to 44 years-old in both sexes. More than half of leprosy cases in the period had been lately diagnosed and just 29 % received early treatment. Conclusions: although leprosy cases have been detected in Cumanayagua, this disease is considered to be under control since the figures are lower than those set by the World Health Organization. There is an upward tendency of the illness, high number of late diagnoses favouring long time of contact between the sick person and other people, thus increasing the transmission possibilities and endangering the attainment of goals towards its eradication.

Keywords : leprosy; epidemiology; tendency.

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