Tuberculosis in Colombia, from the history to the understanding of the disease

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases that have affected humans, being in the past the main cause of death in young people and currently, is a serious health public problem in Colombia. Despite there are preventive means to avoid their increase in the community, the tuberculosis incidence has been increasing in our country. So, it is necessary to strengthen the primary and secondary prevention measures that lead to improve the patients¿ life quality, ensuring the effectiveness and timeliness of the bacteriological diagnosis and cutting the transmission chain from a sick person to a healthy person by searching, early discovery and treatment of the patient.  The partnerships among health institutions must be strengthened in order to develop and implement community engagement strategies for the prevention and disease control. Notwithstanding having new insights into the biology and epidemiology of this entity and getting effectively alter the natural history of the disease, it has not been completely eradicated due to multiple reasons, such as drug resistance, the association with HIV AIDS, and migration of people (displaced people), which gives a challenge to achieve the objectives set by public health programs worldwide. The aim of this paper is to obtain a broad view of the disease, from its first appearances up to the present; by reviewing some aspects of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of it. Methodology: Some researches were performed in databases and search engines from the period 1978 to 2014. 128 articles were selected for this. Conclusions: The spread of TB, it is not more than a reflection of the sharp deterioration in the living conditions of millions of people worldwide and it keeps on being an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, which it exacerbated in recent years by several factors, including infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the multidrug resistance emergence.[Ordóñez SA, López FA. Tuberculosis in Colombia, from the history to the understanding of the disease. MedUNAB 2014; 16(3):127-142]