Endemias e epidemias brasileiras, desafios e perspectivas de investigação científica: hanseníase
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Data
2002
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Resumo
At the beginning of the millennium the elimination
of leprosy as a public health problem
was considered an attainable goal worldwide.
Brazil is the only Latin American country
where leprosy is still endemic and the elimination
goal has been postponed to 2005. In
this review, we discuss the currently declining
prevalence after the implementation of
multi-drug therapy (MDT), without the reduction
in incidence in the same period. The
progress in the fields of immunology, molecular
biology and the recent accomplishment
of M. leprae genomic sequence indicate
the new tools potentially applicable to
leprosy diagnosis, prognosis and surveillance.
Despite the success of the current public
health strategy there is a global concern about
the lack of interest and financial support for
leprosy research, for the maintenance and
improvement of field expertise in public
health. The exclusion of leprosy among public
health priorities was premature and represents
a real threat of not eliminating leprosy,
but leprosy research. It is necessary to generate
knowledge on basic and applied research
for understanding the mechanism of
transmission of the infection, and to test new
preventive and therapeutic tools in order to
achieve the “eradication” of the M. leprae
infection. Maintenance and field expertise are
essential for leprosy surveillance during and
after its elimination.
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Palavras-chave
Vigilância, Pesquisa em hanseníase, Eliminação da hanseníase, Surveillance, Leprosy research, Leprosy elimination
Citação
MARTELLI, Celina Maria Turchi et. al. Endemias e epidemias brasileiras, desafios e perspectivas de investigação científica: hanseníase. Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia, São Paulo, v. 5, n. 3, p. 273-285, 2002.