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NUMBER OF CASES OF LEPROSY IN THE BRAZILIAN NORTH: A REFLECTION ON BASIC CARE

ALLAN ANDERSON PEREIRA DE MOURA 1 ; AMANDA ALVES FECURY 1 ; ANA PAULA FERREIRA MARQUES 1 ; ANDRÉ LUÍS KOLCENTY 1 ; ANNA CARLA DE LIMA PINTO 1 ; ANTONIO CARLOS CAVALCANTE CORREIA 1 ; BERGSON MATOS DE ARAUJO 1 ; DYONE KARLA BARBOSA DA SILVA 1 ; FELIPE FERREIRA PINHEIRO 1
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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Leprosy is a contagious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which has affinity for skin and nerves. Due of its potentially incapacitating and high detection rate, leprosy is considered a public health problem. In this research, we sought to demonstrate the importance of a more recent epidemiological profile of the disease, relating to the health and prevention actions in the basic attention to the difficulties found in this process. METHODS: Epidemiological data were used provided by electronic portal DATASUS in the years 2014 and 2015, related to leprosy in the Northern region. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In 2014, DATASUS notified that the Nortern region occupied the fourth place in number of cases (4523) and presented the penultimate position in the cure rate with 81.67%. Among the data presented on the Northern region, the state of Pará presented the highest number of cases (2,525) and the state of Roraima showed the lowest amount (65) .In relation to other variables, such as cure rate, Acre presented the highest percentage with 95.57% and Roraima presented the lowest percentage with 70.68%. This profile may be related to difficulties that basic attention has to cover the hard-to-reach locations to promote mechanisms for the prevention, treatment and even reporting of cases, which constitute obstacles to control the disease.