Guantanamo reduces mortality from tuberculosis
By: Yaqueline De la Rosa Hermida @
Guantanamo, Mar 24. The eastern Cuban province reaches the International Day of Fight against Tuberculosis with a decrease in mortality from this disease last year, upon achieving a rate of 3.11 per hundred thousand inhabitants, a step in the control of the contagious disease that causes more than two million deaths each year in the world.
The municipalities with the highest number of cases reported in the province are El Salvador and Guantanamo where the northern part is the most affected, reported Dr. Idalmis Mosqueda, an adviser to the program against tuberculosis in the territory.
The specialist further explained that the clinical condition of greater incidence in Guantanamo is the lung and appears mostly in people with 60 years of age and over, although some cases in 2008 occurred between 25 and 59 years.
To prevent the increase of tuberculosis, the second largest killer in the world, the province gives priority to the attention in the areas of health through educational activities about the importance of going to the doctor if respiratory symptoms for more than 14 days appear as well as the measures that prevent infection.
The follow-up of patients in the community includes the daily visits of family doctor or nurse, who watch over the correct medication for these patients, the essential treatment in improving their health and the recovery to which the Cuban state pay them a 100 % wage without working.
Although Cuba is one of the countries with lowest prevalence of tuberculosis in Latin America, a strict surveillance of the disease through vaccination of children, screening in high-risk groups and special attention for the sick and their contacts is kept.Translation by Ilia Charon
