Assessment of the status of leprosy in the city of Londrina - PR from 1997 to 2001: epidemiological, operational and organization aspects

• Autor(a) principal: Barro, Maria Priscila Amed Ali
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Hansenologia Internationalis (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.saude.sp.gov.br/hansenologia/article/view/36380
• topic: hanseníase; epidemiologia; prevenção e controle; leprosy; epidemiology; prevention and control

This descriptive study aims to identify the profile of leprosy patients and evaluate the leprosy control program in the city of Londrina from 1997 to 2001. The data used for analysis came from the electronic files of 459 patients registered in the Information System of Notification of theSanitary Dermatology Center. The analysis of the leprosy control program was based on the epidemiological, operational and organizational guidelines developed by the Ministry of Health. It was verified that the majority of leprosy patients are male (56.0%), between the ages 35 to 54 (42.0%), with education through elementary school (63.0%), diagnosed mainly as Tuberculoid (33.3%) or Lepromatous type (26.6%) and referred to the center by other health services to be diagnosed and treated (80.0%). A decline was noted in the prevalence (2,8 to 1,6 per 10.000 habitants) as well as in the detection rate (2,3 to 1,5 per 10.000 habitants). The latter, however, is still considered high, pointing to the continuation of thedisease because of the high detection of tuberculoid leprosy. There was an increase in the number of patients evaluated for physical disabilies. The cure rate for paucibacillary leprosy was considered good and considered regular for multibacillary leprosy. Overall, the program was considered of good quality. Its weaknesses were identified as: lack of information about the disease, failure to integrate and work with other available health programs, significant patient droup-out rate, failure to provide information about leprosy and difficulties in developing case - finding strategies.