RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Less than 19% of those needing tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment complete it, due to losses in several steps of the cascade of care for latent TB infection. A cluster randomized trial of a programmatic public health intervention to improve management of latent TB infection in household contacts was conducted in Rio de Janeiro. Interventions included contact registry, initial and in-service training, and a TB booklet. We conducted a follow-up study starting one month after the conclusion of this trial, to measure the effect of interventions implemented, and to identify remaining barriers and facilitators to latent TB infection treatment, from different perspectives. METHODS: In two health clinics in Rio de Janeiro that received the interventions in the trial, data for the latent TB infection cascade of care for household contacts was collected over a five-month period. The number of household contacts initiating treatment per 100 index-TB patients was compared with the cascade of care data obtained before and during the intervention trial. Semi-structured open-ended questionnaires were administered to healthcare workers, household contacts and index-TB patients regarding knowledge and perceptions about TB and study interventions. RESULTS: In this follow-up study, 184 household contacts per 100 index-TB patients were identified. When compared to the intervention period, there were 65 fewer household contacts per 100 index-TB patients, (95% CI -115, - 15) but the number starting latent TB infection treatment was sustained (difference -2, 95% CI -8,5). A total of 31 index-TB patients, 22 household contacts and 19 health care workers were interviewed. Among index-TB patients, 61% said all their household contacts had been tested for latent TB infection. All health care workers said it was very important to test household contacts, and 95% mentioned that possessing correct knowledge on the benefits of latent TB infection treatment was the main facilitator to enable them to recommend this treatment. CONCLUSION: In this follow-up study, we observed a sustained effect of interventions to strengthen the latent TB infection cascade of care on increasing the number of household contacts starting latent TB infection treatment.
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Tuberculosis Latente , Brasil/epidemiología , Trazado de Contacto , Estudios de Seguimiento , Personal de Salud , Humanos , Tuberculosis Latente/tratamiento farmacológico , Tuberculosis Latente/epidemiología , Tuberculosis Latente/prevención & control , Salud PúblicaRESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Despite being widely used as a screening tool, a rigorous scientific evaluation of infrared thermography for the diagnosis of minimally symptomatic patients suspected of having COVID-19 infection has not been performed. METHODS: A consecutive sample of 60 adult individuals with a history of close contact with COVID-19 infected individuals and mild respiratory symptoms for less than 7 days and 20 confirmed COVID-19 negative healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Infrared thermograms of the face were obtained with a mobile camera, and RT-PCR was used as the reference standard test to diagnose COVID-19 infection. Temperature values and distribution of the face of healthy volunteers and patients with and without COVID-19 infection were then compared. RESULTS: Thirty-four patients had an RT-PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and 26 had negative test results. The temperature asymmetry between the lacrimal caruncles and the forehead was significantly higher in COVID-19 positive individuals. Through a random forest analysis, a cut-off value of 0.55°C was found to discriminate with an 82% accuracy between patients with and without COVID-19 confirmed infection. CONCLUSIONS: Among adults with a history of COVID-19 exposure and mild respiratory symptoms, a temperature asymmetry of ≥ 0.55°C between the lacrimal caruncle and the forehead is highly suggestive of COVID-19 infection. This finding questions the widespread use of the measurement of absolute temperature values of the forehead as a COVID-19 screening tool.
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Temperatura Corporal , COVID-19/diagnóstico , Ojo , Frente , Termografía/métodos , Adulto , COVID-19/fisiopatología , Prueba de Ácido Nucleico para COVID-19 , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Femenino , Humanos , Rayos Infrarrojos , Aprendizaje Automático , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Análisis Multivariante , Estudios Prospectivos , SARS-CoV-2 , Índice de Severidad de la EnfermedadRESUMEN
Measles continues to be one of the leading causes of child mortality worldwide, even though a highly effective vaccine has existed for more than 40 years. We aimed to describe the seroprevalence of measles antibodies in Mexico in 2012 and the risk factors associated with susceptibility. A total of 7,785 serum samples were analyzed from the National Health and Nutrition Survey in Mexico. This national survey is representative of the general population, including noninstitutionalized adult, adolescent, and child populations. Antibody titers were classified into protective (> 120 mIU/mL) or susceptible (≤ 120 mIU/mL) levels. The weighted seroprevalence and susceptibility of the overall population were 99.37% (95% CI 99.07-99.58) and 0.63% (95% CI 0.42-0.93), respectively. Among 1-to-4-year-old children, 2.18% (95% CI 1.36-3.48) were susceptible to measles. Among adolescents and young adults, the prevalence of susceptibility was as follows: those 15-19 years of age had a prevalence of 0.22% (95% CI 0.09-0.57), and those 30-39 years of age had a prevalence of 1.17% (95% CI 0.47-2.85). Susceptibility was associated with young age, living in Mexico City, living in crowded households and unknown or nonvaccinated status among 1- to 5-year-old children. Although the overall sample population seroprevalence for measles is above 95%, increased susceptibility among younger children signals the importance of the timely administration of the first vaccine dose at 12 months of age. Furthermore, increased susceptibility among specific subgroups indicates the need to reinforce current vaccination policies, including the immunization of unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated individuals from 10 to 39 years of age.
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Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , Susceptibilidad a Enfermedades/sangre , Sarampión/inmunología , Sarampión/prevención & control , Estudios Seroepidemiológicos , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Preescolar , Susceptibilidad a Enfermedades/inmunología , Femenino , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Vacuna Antisarampión/uso terapéutico , México , Análisis Multivariante , Pruebas de Neutralización , Prevalencia , Probabilidad , Tamaño de la Muestra , Clase Social , Vacunación/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Genotyping and georeferencing in tuberculosis (TB) have been used to characterize the distribution of the disease and occurrence of transmission within specific groups and communities. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that diabetes mellitus (DM) and pulmonary TB may occur in spatial and molecular aggregations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of patients with pulmonary TB. The study area included 12 municipalities in the Sanitary Jurisdiction of Orizaba, Veracruz, México. Patients with acid-fast bacilli in sputum smears and/or Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum cultures were recruited from 1995 to 2010. Clinical (standardized questionnaire, physical examination, chest X-ray, blood glucose test and HIV test), microbiological, epidemiological, and molecular evaluations were carried out. Patients were considered "genotype-clustered" if two or more isolates from different patients were identified within 12 months of each other and had six or more IS6110 bands in an identical pattern, or < 6 bands with identical IS6110 RFLP patterns and spoligotype with the same spacer oligonucleotides. Residential and health care centers addresses were georeferenced. We used a Jeep hand GPS. The coordinates were transferred from the GPS files to ArcGIS using ArcMap 9.3. We evaluated global spatial aggregation of patients in IS6110-RFLP/ spoligotype clusters using global Moran´s I. Since global distribution was not random, we evaluated "hotspots" using Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Using bivariate and multivariate analysis we analyzed sociodemographic, behavioral, clinic and bacteriological conditions associated with "hotspots". We used STATA® v13.1 for all statistical analysis. RESULTS: From 1995 to 2010, 1,370 patients >20 years were diagnosed with pulmonary TB; 33% had DM. The proportion of isolates that were genotyped was 80.7% (n = 1105), of which 31% (n = 342) were grouped in 91 genotype clusters with 2 to 23 patients each; 65.9% of total clusters were small (2 members) involving 35.08% of patients. Twenty three (22.7) percent of cases were classified as recent transmission. Moran`s I indicated that distribution of patients in IS6110-RFLP/spoligotype clusters was not random (Moran`s I = 0.035468, Z value = 7.0, p = 0.00). Local spatial analysis showed statistically significant spatial aggregation of patients in IS6110-RFLP/spoligotype clusters identifying "hotspots" and "coldspots". GI* statistic showed that the hotspot for spatial clustering was located in Camerino Z. Mendoza municipality; 14.6% (50/342) of patients in genotype clusters were located in a hotspot; of these, 60% (30/50) lived with DM. Using logistic regression the statistically significant variables associated with hotspots were: DM [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) 7.04, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 3.03-16.38] and attending the health center in Camerino Z. Mendoza (aOR18.04, 95% CI 7.35-44.28). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of molecular and epidemiological information with geospatial data allowed us to identify the concurrence of molecular clustering and spatial aggregation of patients with DM and TB. This information may be highly useful for TB control programs.
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Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiología , Tuberculosis Pulmonar/epidemiología , Adulto , Anciano , Análisis por Conglomerados , Estudios de Cohortes , Diabetes Mellitus/genética , Femenino , Genotipo , Mapeo Geográfico , Humanos , Masculino , México/epidemiología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Epidemiología Molecular , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/genética , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/patogenicidad , Estudios Retrospectivos , Análisis Espacial , Esputo/microbiología , Tuberculosis/epidemiología , Tuberculosis Pulmonar/genéticaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To describe the behavior of mortality in Mexico through four indicators from 1990 to 2012. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The official mortality and population records of Mexico were used. RESULTS: An advance was achieved for children under five years of age, with a decrease in mortality, although there was an increase in the years of potential life lost (YPLL) from 2008 for this age group. For children under one year of age, there was no advance since 2002 in the index of YPLL and in the productive years of life lost (PYLL). Since 2008 there has been an increase in the rates of mortality, YPLL, and PYLL in the group from 10 to 29 years of age. There has been a sustained increase in YPLL in the age group from 40 to 69. CONCLUSIONS: It is relevant to evaluate the health policies in Mexico for the different age groups; even though there have been positive results in some of them, these are not across all the age groups, which could put some sectors of the population at risk, such as children and young people from 10 to 29 years of age.
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Mortalidad/tendencias , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Niño , Preescolar , Humanos , Lactante , México/epidemiología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Factores de Tiempo , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Isoniazid mono-resistance (IMR) is the most common form of mono-resistance; its world prevalence is estimated to range between 0.0 to 9.5% globally. There is no consensus on how these patients should be treated. OBJECTIVE: To describe the impact of IMR tuberculosis (TB) on treatment outcome and survival among pulmonary TB patients treated under programmatic conditions in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of pulmonary TB patients in Southern Mexico. From 1995 to 2010 patients with acid-fast bacilli or culture proven Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples underwent epidemiological, clinical and microbiological evaluation. We included patients who harbored isoniazid mono-resistant (IMR) strains and patients with strains susceptible to isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and streptomycin. All patients were treated following Mexican TB Program guidelines. We performed annual follow-up to ascertain treatment outcome, recurrence, relapse and mortality. RESULTS: Between 1995 and 2010 1,243 patients with pulmonary TB were recruited; 902/1,243 (72.57%) had drug susceptibility testing; 716 (79.38%) harbored pan-susceptible and 88 (9.75%) IMR strains. Having any contact with a person with TB (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)) 1.85, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.96) and homelessness (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.76, 95% CI 1.08-6.99) were associated with IMR. IMR patients had a higher probability of failure (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 12.35, 95% CI 3.38-45.15) and death due to TB among HIV negative patients (aHR 3.30. 95% CI 1.00-10.84). All the models were adjusted for socio-demographic and clinical variables. CONCLUSIONS: The results from our study provide evidence that the standardized treatment schedule with first line drugs in new and previously treated cases with pulmonary TB and IMR produces a high frequency of treatment failure and death due to tuberculosis. We recommend re-evaluating the optimal schedule for patients harboring IMR. It is necessary to strengthen scientific research for the evaluation of alternative treatment schedules in similar settings.