Regina Victoria Plaza Rivera from the Department of Internal Medicine participated as an expert in drug-resistant tuberculosis, during the virtual monitoring sessions of the Luz Verde Regional Committee, which was held from November 23 to 25 in Honduras

The Pan American Health Organization invited Professor Regina Victoria Plaza Rivera, attached to the Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Cauca, to participate as an expert in drug-resistant tuberculosis during the virtual monitoring sessions of the Luz Verde Regional Committee.

The Teacher and Epidemiologist participated together with experts from Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico and the United States in the monitoring of the drug-resistant Tuberculosis component that was carried out in Honduras from November 23 to 25 and in the conclusions of the virtual monitoring on November 30, 2020.

“Tuberculosis is an infectious contagious disease that requires a treatment of at least six months under the supervision of health personnel or trained community leader, when for some reason there are failures in the supervised administration of treatment, conventional drugs stop working and resistance is manifested , a situation that leads to having to use lengthy, expensive and complex management schemes whose therapeutic success is only possible if rigorous operational, clinical and programed guidelines are followed, ”said teacher Regina Victoria Plaza Rivera.

In the world, mortality from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis MDR TB and extremely resistant tuberculosis XDR TB has been registered up to 40 and 60%, respectively. “What is desirable is that we manage to prevent the disease, cure those affected by sensitive tuberculosis, avoid the transition to resistant tuberculosis, ensuring not only supervised and timely treatment, but also coverage of all social and psychological aspects for the affected person and their family. From all sectors we are called to participate in the achievement of the elimination of tuberculosis”.

From the academic sector, the University of Cauca has been contributing to the control of TB locally and nationally for more than 16 years. In Colombia, 14,900 cases of tuberculosis were detected in 2019 and a general total of 427 cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis were registered, of which 228 were MDR / RR TB and 5 were XDR and PRE XDR TB. In Cauca, 26 cases of drug resistant TB have been registered since 2014 to date, of which 13 have been due to MDR / RR TB and one PREXDR, with three people affected by resistance to tuberculosis this year.

"Systematically searching for resistance, prior to starting any tuberculosis management scheme, is a good practice that allows us to identify and treat resistance in a timely manner and reduce mortality," concluded the teacher about her participation during the virtual sessions, whose objectives were to give follow-up on the recommendations of the visit of the Luz Verde Regional Committee in 2019; review progress in TB prevention and control activities in Honduras; review the status of the laboratory diagnosis of TB in Honduras; know the status of TB drugs and supplies (registration, procurement and management) and identify needs for technical support in DR-TB.

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Faculty of Health Sciences

Email: fsalud@unicauca.edu.co