Epidemiología de la tuberculosis infantil en Galicia, años 1996-2011

Abstract

Since 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) has made great strides in approaching and developing methods for estimating the true burden of childhood tuberculosis (TB) and obtaining the recognition it deserves. Approximately one million children develop TB every year and at least 14% die. 51.4% are under 5 years old (< 5 y.). The first global estimates published for 2014 of resistance to isoniazid (H) and multiresistance were 12.1% and 3.2% respectively, while the tuberculosis infection was estimated at 67 million children, five of which due to strains resistant to H and two by multiresistant strains. Every infected or sick child represents a sentinel event of recent transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) in the community and should therefore be a priority in TB prevention and control strategies. The objective of this thesis is to make a descriptive study of the evolution of childhood TB in Galicia from the implementation of the Galician Program of Prevention and Control of TB (PGPCTB) in 1996 to 2011 and its epidemiological characteristics, based on data obtained from the TB Information System Galicia (SITUB). Despite a favorable evolution, it represents 6.5% of the burden of TB, with a higher incidence than the European and Spanish average.