[Study on tuberculosis in a Seville Health Care District. Current situation and control improvement alternatives]

In our setting (District, Seville, Andalusia, Spain....) it is not rare to find annual incidence rates for TBC of more than 30 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It reveals that this problem is nowhere near being eradicated. This study is aimed at describing the clinical and public health patterns of tuberculosis cases within the "South-East Seville" Healthcare District.

Descriptive study of the reported cases (personal traits, location, time, type of disease, risk factors) throughout the 1992-2000 period in the "South-East Seville" Healthcare District, located in the city of Seville and including some rural centers of population. Percentage distribution of cases for the different studied factors and the incidence rates for group of interest (sex, age groups, geographic areas) are provided.

A mean annual incidence rate of 19.4 cases/100,000 inhabitants has been estimated. Notable differences in incidence depending on group of sex (RR = 2.1), age (annual incidence of more than 24 cases/100,000 inhabitants among children age 0-4 and adults age 25-39) and geographical area were found. The frequency of relapses and repeated treatments, as well as shortcomings with regard to conducting and reporting the studies on family members and contacts were noted.

The situation analysis in a Healthcare District such as the one described here (currently approx. 610,000 inhabitants) throughout a nine-year follow-up period -entailing 1,065 reported cases- may well provide us some orientation about the situation in our environment. It also gives us the possibility to compare it with some other studies. A downward trend in the incidence rate has been noted as of 1997. Some organizational measures to be taken into account for controlling this infection are provided.