[Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Mexico, 1981-1998. Inconsistencies between reports of the WHO and the Ministry of health].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the tuberculosis morbidity and mortality trends in Mexico, by comparing the data reported by the Ministry of Health (MH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) between 1981 and 1998.


METHODS
The number of cases notified in the past few years, their rates, and the trends of the disease in Mexico were analyzed. The incidence of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis was estimated for 1997 and 1998 with the annual tuberculosis infection risk (ATIR), to estimate the percentage of bacilliferous cases in 1997-1998.


RESULTS
WHO reported more tuberculosis cases for Mexico than the MH. However, this difference has decreased throughout the years. The notification of smear-positive cases remained stable during 1993-1998. The estimated percentages of detection were 66% for 1997 and 26% for 1998 (based on ATIR of 0.5%). Tuberculosis mortality decreased gradually (6.7% per year) between 1990 and 1998, whereas the number of new cases increased, suggesting the persistence of disease transmission in the population.


CONCLUSIONS
Inconsistencies between case notifications from national data and WHO were considerable, but decreased progressively during the study period. According to ATIR estimations, a considerable number of infectious tuberculosis cases are not detected. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.
Báez-Saldaña
A Renata
AR
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Calzada de Tlalpan 4502, Colonia Sección XVI, 14080 México, D.F., México. baezrd@servidor.unam.mx
Pérez-Padilla
José Rogelio
JR
Salazar-Lezama
Miguel Angel
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018563:Disease Notification; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000401:mortality*; D014944:World Health Organization