• Submitted by: Luis Manuel Mazorra
• Health and Medicine
• 03 / 25 / 2012

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Josefa Llanes, coordinator of the National TB reported that on the island are making important prophylactic work towards the elimination of this disease in many countries is a major health problem.
Control strategies and treatment of the condition developed in the country since the beginning of the Revolution, allowed to reach the low rates of infection are displayed in recent years ((6.9 per 100 thousand inhabitants) and provide reach new goals, the expert said at a news conference.

Our challenge is to further reduce the number of cases, and we agree with the premise of the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis end in our generation, he said.

This is difficult, but in Cuba if it can achieve and the nation has all the necessary infrastructure, laboratory networks, coverage of free treatment in the areas of health, which since 1971 is characterized by strictly supervised by the physician and family nurse, said.

He recalled that at present on the planet, are notified about eight million patients a year and two million people still die from this cause. The least affected countries today are the U.S., Canada, Cuba, Chile, Uruguay, and Costa Rica, he said.

For his part, Antonio Marrero Figueroa, member of the Respiratory Diseases Department of Public Health, stressed that TB is preventable and curable, but emphasized the need for early diagnosis to prevent the transmission of causal Basilo.

Faced with respiratory symptoms of more than 14 days should see a doctor, said Marrero.

As for vaccine protection, the specialist explained that in today's world there is no efficient universal immunogen that protects in all ages for life. The BCG vaccine protects in the early and severe forms of the disease, he added.

There are several vaccine candidates in advanced stages of research, and Cuba in particular working on his own project in this regard, he said.

On March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative Basilo this disease, which then caused the death of one in seven people in the United States and Europe. Hence, the discovery was the most important step was taken in the struggle for control and elimination.

In 1982, a century after Dr. Koch's announcement was made the first World TB Day, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD).