Tuberculosis of the Skin: Modern Clinical and Epidemiological Features and the Necessity of a Multidisciplinary Approach for Timely Diagnosis and Comprehensive Therapy (Review)

Abstract

The seriousness of the global significance of tuberculosis, an infection that is both old and new, was discussed extensively at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in the summer of 2023. This seemingly purely medical issue received widespread attention for the public's understanding of the corresponding «Political Declarations on Tuberculosis» and the agreement on key issues related to combating tuberculosis. It was emphasized that the sphere of public health encompasses the unequivocal preservation of human health as the primary objective in the social development of any specific state. This clearly includes measures aimed at preventing the occurrence of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.Objective — to conduct an analysis of professional publications of recent years regarding the modern clinical and epidemiological features of the clinical course of skin tuberculosis and to determine organizational measures to ensure the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the public health of the population of Ukraine in wartime conditions and the conduct of active hostilities. And also to remind doctors of various specialties about the significant diversity of modern clinical manifestations of various forms of skin tuberculosis. Materials and methods. Official documents and scientific publications related to public health policy, approaches to overcoming the tuberculosis epidemic, incidence dynamics and forms of skin tuberculosis in Ukraine were analyzed. Results and discussion. The content of the analyzed professional publications indisputably proves that the problem of tuberculosis has gone far beyond the scope of the purely medical field and has acquired the status of national significance. A modern approach to improving the state of public health requires the constant coordination of the efforts of different people, who at the same time have a wide range of professional skills in many different disciplines, as well as the ability to work fruitfully with others in joint multiprofessional teams to achieve a common goal — to overcome the tuberculosis epidemic. Conclusions. Analysis of scientific publications of recent years on the problem of skin tuberculosis indicates an urgent need to consider this disease in the state Public Health system as a general infectious disease of the whole organism, in which pulmonary and formally extrapulmonary (skin) lesions are pathogenetically linked in a single chain of pathological changes. This requires an interdisciplinary ap­proach and systematic methodological cooperation of phthisis doctors, dermatovenerologists and family doctors in the aspect of timely diagnosis and complex therapy of this infection.