Tuberculosis in the urban poor settlements in the Philippines.

SETTING

Urban poor settlements in the Philippines.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the magnitude of the tuberculosis problem in urban poor settlements in comparison with urban areas studied in the Nationwide Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHOD: A multistage cluster survey of BCG scar, tuberculin test, chest radiography and sputum examination for bacillary disease, in urban poor areas.

RESULTS

The prevalences of culture-positive and smear-positive tuberculosis were 17.5 +/- 2.3 (95% CI 13.3-22.4) and 7.9 +/- 2.3 per thousand (95% CI 2.611.5), respectively. Extrapolated to the total population, the rates in the urban poor settlements were 12.4 +/- 1.7 (95% CI 9.6-16.2) and 5.6 +/- 1.6 per thousand population (95% CI 1.3-8.3), respectively. The prevalence of active pulmonary tuberculosis in subjects aged 10 years or more was 66 +/- 5.6/1000 (95% CI 55-77). The BCG vaccination rate was 72%. The overall prevalence of tuberculosis infection was 66%, and 39% in those aged 5-9 years, corresponding to an annual risk of infection (ARI) of 6.5%.

CONCLUSION

The problem of tuberculosis was substantial in the urban poor settlements, and was appreciably worse than that in the general urban population.