Developed by researchers of the Data Integration Center for Health (Cidacs) of Fiocruz Bahia, the article Incidence and risk factors of tuberculosis among 420.854 household contacts of patients with tuberculosis in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (2004-18): a cohort study was featured in the cover of the January issue of journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study describes a high incidence of tuberculosis among household contacts, that is, between people who share a household with someone previously diagnosed with the disease. This incidence of tuberculosis between house contacts was 16 times greater than the incidence of tuberculosis in the general population of the cohort of 100 million Brazilians, from the data of the Unified Registry, used as database for this study. A higher risk for getting sick from tuberculosis was observed between contacts exposed to a relative younger than five years old who have been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, or even contacts who declare being black, brown, indigenous or living in precarious conditions.
To Julia Pescarini, coordinator of the study, the publication of the article in a journal such as Lancet ID highlights the recognition of the work done and the relevance of the research. According to Pescarini, the published work has a broad reach, being read by health professionals and managers of the area of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, throughout the world. “Despite the information disseminated on tuberculosis and its relation to poverty, the efforts to reduce its transmission among the poor and minority populations are still scarce, so publishing in Lancet also means increasing the reach of our research and enhancing its impact on the strategies to control it”, explains the coordinator.
Pescarini also highlights the process of publishing as an important factor to increase the scope of the findings on the research. For an article to be published in Lancet ID, it goes through extensive proofreading in pairs, which shows that work and research in Brazil generally have a potential of doing applied science of exceptional quality to answer important research questions, not only to Brazil, but to the world.
“Thus, the publication on Lancet ID shows a higher transmission of TB between contacts from such groups, using robust methods in a groundbreaking database,” she stated. According to Priscila Scaff, first author of the article, the study reinforces the vulnerability of the household contacts to tuberculosis, particularly in people living in unfavorable social conditions.
“The statement that household contacts have a high risk for tuberculosis disease was already known. However, this study brings details on how that happens in the population with the highest economic vulnerability in Brazil. Our results highlight the importance of public policies to fight social inequality, strengthening and expanding the Family Health Strategy, and the preventive treatment of tuberculosis,” she stated.
Cidacs has contributed to producing scientific knowledge through studies which guide and support decision-making in public policies to benefit society. In seven years in activity, the Center has been standing out with articles published in important journals and scientific papers.
Fiotec is responsible for managing the resources received from national and international financers, who generate the capital to maintain the Center and its cutting-edge equipment. Among the financers supporting Cidacs are Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockfeller Center, NIHR, NIH, Wellcome Trust, in addition to resources from national TEDs.
“Now we have around 14 projects at Fiotec, which are run at Cidacs. The Center is coordinated by professor Mauricio Barreto and currently counts with seven other servants of Fiocruz, who are physically assigned there,” explains Erica Nascimento, International Project Execution analyst at Fiotec.
Source: Fiocruz News Agency (AFN).
