THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE ANALYSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS IN THE STATE OF PARANÁ BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted health services around the world, changed population behavior and implemented social isolation and personal hygiene practices. However, the impact of Covid-19 is bigger than the disease itself, the overcrowding of the health system, the underreporting of various diseases and its impact on the behavior of infectious and contagious diseases can be fatal for thousands of people. Especially when it comes to tuberculosis, which until April 2020 was responsible for the highest number of deaths from an infectious disease in the world, being an ancient public health problem, which has many similarities with Covid-19, such as its transmission through the airways, symptoms like cough, fever, shortness of breath and because both mainly affect the lungs. Due to the importance of assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tuberculosis, the changes caused by the pandemic need to be identified and classified to help rearrange medical resources and structure government programs aimed at eradicating and controlling tuberculosis. This research analyzed the differences in the epidemiological profile of diagnosed and notified cases of tuberculosis before and after the Covid-19 pandemic in the state of Paraná. As an epidemiological study, with observational and descriptive Properties, where data was collected on the public page of the Departamento de informática do sistema único de saúde (DATASUS).