CARACTERIZAÇÃO DOS CASOS DE HANSENÍASE NOTIFICADOS NO MUNICÍPIO DE ARAPIRACA-AL EM 2017

Leprosy is a chronic, infectious, contagious disease that can interfere with the individual's physical, social and economic capacity. We aimed with this study to characterize the cases of leprosy reported in Arapiraca, Alagoas, in the year 2017. This is an epidemiological ecological study, with a quantitative approach, based on secondary data from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) made available by the Department of Informatics of the Brazilian Unified Health System (DATASUS). 41 cases of leprosy were reported, of which 36 were new cases, resembling the reality found in other studies. Of the reported cases, 53,6% were female; 26,8% in the age group from 20 to 34 years; 61% of the cases had multibacillary operational classification and predominance of the clinical form called diforma (34,1%). The study showed that 39% had 0 degree of disability. In addition, we obtained a high number of notifications whose this information was not reported (34,2%). Regarding to the outcome, 14,6% had a cure. Our study showed the epidemiological and clinical profile of leprosy in Arapiraca, contributing to the adoption of strategies that allow the control and possible elimination of the disease. We noticed the need to intensify the active search and to work the theme in the basic attention through actions of promotion and prevention, in order to raise awareness to the population.