Resumo

CRESPO, Maria Júlia  e  GONCALVES, Aguinaldo. Appraisal of possibilities for control of hansen's disease based on multidrugtherapy. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2014, vol.32, n.1, pp.80-88. ISSN 0870-9025.

Introduction: Multidrugtherapy (MDT) was implemented as a strategy by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1982, incorporating as one of its goals the elimination of this disease. The persistence of the endemic situation signals an urgent need for review, and this in turn led to the investigation of development of possibilities for the control based on the adoption of MDT. Method: This is a study of secondary data based on bibliographical review and analysis of content of technical papers and documents. PUBMED, BVS and Academic One File databases were used covering the period between 2005 and 2011, in English and Portuguese languages, with the following search terms: leprosy/multidrug therapy, leprosy/treatment, Hansen's disease/multidrug, Hansen's disease/treatment. The material was then analysed, with extraction of the relevant information and subsequent processing, and subjected to inference and interpretation, based on elements such as impact, interests, significance, saturations and intention. Results: A total of 111 references were found, these being divided into two broad interest groups, namely: Evolutionary Phases of Control and Possibility of Elimination. Discussion: Based on the former, it was observed that resistance to medication continues; the diseases advances, with estimates suggesting that some five million cases have been detected over fifteen years; the reduction in the number of professional people qualified in this area and also the maintenance of grade II of physical incapacity are just some negative effects of the so-called elimination of the disease; there is still a need for further information about essential elements for enhancement of therapeutics and epidemiological studies, as also accuracy in registration of data. Results suggest, first and foremost, the expected impossibility of stamping out Hansen's disease exclusively through the current MDT. At the same time, it was confirmed that new strategies are being developed, such as Monitored Multidrugtherapy and, more significantly, Uniform Multidrugtherapy, and also there is a further effort towards the synthesis of new drugs and combinations thereof.

Palavras-chave : Leprosy; Control; Multidrugtherapy; Treatment.

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