SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LEPROSY AND INCIDENCE OF PHYSICAL DISABILITIES CAUSED BY THE DISEASE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS
Leprosy, Physical disabilities, georeferencing
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the Enhanced Global Strategy for Further Reducing the Burden of Leprosy: 2010-2015, whose goal was to reduce the diagnosis of grade 2 leprosy and physical disability by 35% in five years. Physical disabilities are one of the main sequelae of leprosy, and may arise before diagnosis or during multidrug therapy. It is a mixed-type neuropathy, which affects nerve, sensory and autonomic fibers. This research identified the spatial distribution, from georeferencing, of patients undergoing treatment and after discharge, in the last five years, of leprosy in the city of Teixeira de Freitas-BA and analyzed the incidence of neurological damage and physical disabilities resulting from the disease. For this, the analysis of medical records and interviews with patients treated in the last 5 years by the Testing and Counseling Center of the Municipality of Teixeira de Freitas were carried out. For georeferencing, data from the municipality, neighborhood, street, house number, address complement, reference point and year of notification, contained in the medical record, were used. Data were geocoded using Google Earth Pro software. Therefore, this research seeks to corroborate the scientific field and the production of knowledge and practices in this area.