Portuguese-English translation
Tuberculosis kills nearly 5,000 Brazilians yearly
WHO data call attention to the disease that is not in the past
It may seem like disease of the past, but it is not. Only in Brazil, tuberculosis kills nearly 5,000 people a year, according to the WHO (World Health Organisation). The infectious disease caused by bacteria primarily affects the lungs but can also affect other body organs, bones, kidneys and meninges (membranes surrounding the brain).
In recent years, the disease has been falling in the country - currently is 37.7 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants - but many deaths continue to occur because patients do not complete the entire treatment, which is long and can last six months.
According to the pathologist and member of the SBP (Brazilian Society of Pathology) Rimarcs Ferreira Gomes, 80% of TB cases worldwide are located in developing countries and are attributed to factors such as lack of infrastructure in major cities and sanitation .
Children die of TB every year
- The transmitter of tuberculosis, the bacillus of Koch, has a larger facility to spread in dark environments because it is sensitive to light. So it tends to multiply the outskirts of large cities, where there is high concentration of slums.
According to the doctor, the contagion, which is made by breathing, according to the variation of the transmitter and the body of its bearer.
- The bacillus is "lazy" then it does not always manifest the disease in the body where it is housed. This varies according to the instant organism's immune individual.
Still according to Ferreira, the only existing vaccine against TB to prevent the most severe cases of the disease and may be administered in children five years old.
Children with TB
WHO data showed on Wednesday (21) that 70,000 children die every year of tuberculosis worldwide. This is due to the difficulty of health professionals to recognize the symptoms. According to the coordinator of WHO's tuberculosis department, Malgosia Grzemska, tuberculosis is often underreported in children because the symptoms are not very specific in them.