Public transportation and pulmonary tuberculosis, Lima, Peru
The association between public transportation for commuting and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) was analyzed in workers in Lima, Peru. Traveling in minibuses was a risk factor for pulmonary TB. Preventive measures need to be taken by health services to prevent spread of this disease. Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be an important public health problem in impoverished areas (1-4). It is spread through the air by patients with pulmonary TB (5). Because those most affected by pulmonary TB are persons 15-50 years of age, employment-related characteristics of these persons must be taken into account when studying this disease. In Lima, Peru, residents of peripheral neighborhoods generally use minibuses to travel to work or school and have long commute times. Because public transportation in Latin America routinely carries more passengers than permitted by law, it is plausible to assume that in areas with endemic pulmonary TB, daily use of public transportation may be a risk factor for acquiring TB (6-9). The greatest amount of expectoration (productive coughing) occurs during the morning commute (6:00 am-7:00 am) because of accumulation of bronchial secretions at night (10). Given the conditions in which persons travel to work in Lima (long travel times and overcrowding on minibuses with closed windows), we analyzed whether use of minibuses was associated with the spread of pulmonary TB as part of a larger study to assess pulmonary TB in the Ate-Vitarte District of this city.
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | spa |
| Subjects: | Tuberculosis pulmonar, Transporte público, Pobreza, Riesgo a la salud, |
| Online Access: | http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/13/10/pdfs/1491.pdf |
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