Grupos de riesgo para tuberculosis en Chile

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global and national problem. In Chile the incidence rate has remained at 13 per 100,000 inhabitants for several years without tendency to the expected decline that would allow their elimination by 2020. As a low prevalence country, TB cases have been concentrated in risk groups, reaching 33% in 2013, and this proportion increases as younger people are analyzed. The main risk groups in Chile are HIV co-infection, foreigners and population of prisons. By 2013, the proportion of cases for these three groups was 8.7%, 8.4% and 3.9% respectively, and these percentages vary significantly when regional situation is analyzed. In addition, many of these patients have more than one risk factor, demonstrating the existence of clusters more vulnerable to TB.