It could be tuberculosis! analysis of services in screening centers for covid-19 in Uruguaiana

Objective: to verify among patients treated in screening centers for COVID-19 the prevalence of respiratory symptoms with presumption of tuberculosis. Method: descriptive quantitative study, in which data from attendances were analyzed in three screening centers for flu syndrome and COVID-19 in 2021. It was considered as an outcome of probable tuberculosis a negative result in RT-PCR for COVID-19, a record of simultaneous complaint of cough, dyspnea and fever without other symptoms. Result: 11,830 attendance records were analyzed, the prevalence of attendances classified as a diagnostic presumption of tuberculosis was 2.75% (n=224), these being 52.4% (n=118) female and 67.0% (n=150) of self-declared white skin color. Conclusion: it is estimated that 1% of people in a population are symptomatic of tuberculosis. However, considering the design, in the city of Uruguaiana the prevalence exceeds this value, reached 2.75% of the cases analyzed.