Fatores sócio-econômicos e ambientais relacionados à hanseníase no estado do Ceará

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the socioeconomic and environmental factors related to Hansen’s disease in the State of Ceará. A descriptive study was carried out in three municipalities in the State of Ceará with a high finding and prevalence rate of Hansen’s disease in the last ten years in Senator Pompeu, Iguatu and Juazeiro do Norte. The areas where the cases took place were described, and it was also observed if there were water bodies frequently used by the population in the surroundings. The possibility of other factors is speculated, not only the person-person transmission, just like the water, to participate as an infection source for the Mycobacterium leprae. A case-control study in the municipalities of Fortaleza, Juazeiro do Norte, Sobral, and Morada Nova was accomplished in 2001, starting from this pilot descriptive study, showed that the proximity to natural water bodies, and the frequent contact with them emerged as a significant risk factor for Hansen’s disease in Ceará. A determination model of the Hansen’s disease was idealized based on the disease epidemiology. A univaried analysis was accomplished in each block to know which variables would be analyzed through a logistic regression. After that analysis, considering the idealized model, a multivaried hierarchical analysis was used where each explanatory block was analyzed separately, on a discending scale, and the following blocks were adjusted by the significant variables of the ascending block(s). The results found reinforce previous discoveries, in other studies, of the association of Hansen’s disease with low educational levels, extreme poverty, and the lack of hygiene was also shown to be associated with Hansen’s disease. As well as the people who usually take frequent baths in dams, swamps or rivers had a larger risk of developing Hansen’s disease. Having a vaccine scar was shown as an important protection factor against Hansen’s disease.