Itinerário terapêutico de crianças e adolescentes com diagnóstico de hanseníase

Abstract

Leprosy is a tropical, chronic, infectious and contagious disease, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), transmitted through the upper respiratory tract, having as attraction the Schwann cells that are located in the neurons of the peripheral nervous system. The disease still has high detection rates for diagnosing children and adolescents with physical disabilities, which negatively affect development, stigmatizing, causing psychological and social repercussions, reducing entry into the job market in the future. Given this context, this dissertation aims to describe the therapeutic itinerary of children and adolescents diagnosed with leprosy. This is a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, which seeks to identify and describe the itinerary of children and adolescents under 15 years of age as a diagnosis for health services for the diagnosis of leprosy and its treatment, carried out in the city of Salvador - Bahia, in the health district of Itapuã. Data collection was carried out through individual interviews with mothers or family members, guided by a semi-structured questionnaire with sociodemographic data and guiding open questions about the object of study, with the inclusion criteria: age over 18 years; being a mother or family member of children and adolescents up to fourteen years of age. 05 interviews were carried out, which are represented by (03) three categories that respond to the objective of the work: Perception of clinical signs and suspicion of the disease by family members; Trajectory taken to access the health service and Difficulties encountered in the health service. It was observed in this study that leprosy continues to affect children and adolescents predominantly brown and black and with late diagnosis, with transmissible classification and with thickened nerves that increases the incidence of physical disabilities portraying a greater risk of vulnerability. Ignorance and lack of information for late diagnosis lead to lack of access to information, which becomes an obstacle to early detection of the disease. The time lost between diagnosis and initiation of treatment is crucial to preventing disabilities. This itinerary requires the availability of specialized services for clinical management in parallel with primary health care services. It is necessary to invest in an active search for people with signs and symptoms suggestive of leprosy, through campaigns that involve not only patients but also health professionals, education and other sectors to develop new strategies to capture individuals affected by the disease early, avoiding disabilities; Train health professionals for the early identification of the disease; structure the Health Units to carry out specific exams, such as: clinical exams with sensitivity tests; bacilloscopy and biopsy. In this way, the population affected by leprosy, mainly children and adolescents, could be identified and treated early.