PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS AT SCHOOL AGE-AWARENESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

SUMMARY Aim: to study secondary school students’ health awareness of tuberculosis characteristics and its prophylaxis. Materials and methods: a confidential 32-item questionnaire was filled in by 190 students at the age of 15-18, 69 (36%) of who - boys and 121 (64%) girls in IX, X, XI classes, from 3 different secondary schools in Varna. The questionnaire consists of 32 questions, classified in 4 sections. SPSS ver. 19.0 software package was used for statistical data processing. Results: Studies show that the interviewed students are aware of the basic characteristics of tuberculosis. The research displays significant differences between girls’ answers and boys‘ answers. Boys are better informed about the causes, the processes of disease transmission and the basic prophylactic measures for prevention of tuberculosis whereas girls are more knowledgeable about the main symptoms of the disease. Tuberculosis is the first infectious disease reported by the World Health Organization as a global threat to health [6]. According to the experts of the World Health Organization every other person in the world is infected with tuberculosis, and 5% of them will develop the disease in the next 5 years, unless they are diagnosed and properly treated [1]. The basic ways of getting control of tuberculosis are: early diagnosis of the infected and bacillus secretors, adequate treatment, regular BCG vaccination, as well as raising students’ health awareness and students’ knowledge of the disease [2]. According to the records of the Regional Health Inspectorate -Varna in 2010, an increased morbidity rate among citizens at 8-9 years of age has been noticed, as compared with the previous two years. During 2008 and 2009 in the region of Varna 3 (6 per 100,000) cases of tuberculosis were registered while in 2010 the number of patients with tuberculosis was 13 (30 per 100,000). Considering the public health and social importance