Tuberculosis in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Bull World Health Organ
; 93(7): 498-502, 2015 Jul 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26170508
ABSTRACT
PROBLEM:
In 2010, Haiti sustained a devastating earthquake that crippled the health-care infrastructure in the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and left 1.5 million people homeless. Subsequently, there was an increase in reported tuberculosis in the affected population.APPROACH:
We conducted active tuberculosis case finding in a camp for internally displaced persons and a nearby slum. Community health workers screened for tuberculosis at the household level. People with persistent cough were referred to a physician. The National Tuberculosis Program continued its national tuberculosis reporting system. LOCALSETTING:
Even before the earthquake, Haiti had the highest tuberculosis incidence in the Americas. About half of the tuberculosis cases occur in the Port-au-Prince region. RELEVANT CHANGES The number of reported tuberculosis cases in Haiti has increased after the earthquake, but data are too limited to determine if this is due to an increase in tuberculosis burden or to improved case detection. Compared to previous national estimates (230 per 100,000 population), undiagnosed tuberculosis was threefold higher in a camp for internally displaced persons (693 per 100,000) and fivefold higher in an urban slum (1165 per 100,000). With funding from the World Health Organization (WHO), active case finding is now being done systematically in slums and camps. LESSONS LEARNT Household-level screening for prolonged cough was effective in identifying patients with active tuberculosis in this study. Without accurate data, early detection of rising tuberculosis rates is challenging; data collection should be incorporated into pragmatic disease response programmes.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Tuberculosis
/
Desastres
/
Terremotos
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Screening_studies
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Caribe
/
Haiti
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Bull World Health Organ
Año:
2015
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Haiti