Lanzarote is the island of the Canary archipelago with the most cases of tuberculosis diagnosed per hundred thousand inhabitants. The incidence rate on the island stood at 8.21 cases per hundred thousand people in 2015, according to the latest yearbook published by the Government of the Canary Islands, with data from 2014 and 2015. In second and third place are Gran Canaria and Tenerife, with 7.48 cases and 6.51 per hundred thousand inhabitants, respectively. El Hierro, which did not register any cases, and La Palma, with 1.07 per hundred thousand inhabitants, have the lowest rate in the Canary Islands.
In 2015, according to this study, a total of 13 cases were declared in Lanzarote: nine of them among Spanish citizens and the remaining four among the foreign population. A year earlier, the total figure was more than double. 29 cases were reported and the incidence rate rose to almost 19 patients per hundred thousand inhabitants. This broke the trend of previous years, according to the data published annually by the Canary Islands Health Service. In 2013, according to the same sources, 19 cases were declared and in 2012 there were 12. In 2011, 15 cases were reported by the island's health services, while in 2010 there were 19.
According to the historical series of the Canary Islands Tuberculosis Registry Yearbook, the year with the most registered cases was 2007. At that time, 58 cases were reported and the incidence rate reached 45.5 cases per hundred thousand people. At the beginning of the decade, in the year 2000, 32 cases were diagnosed on the island.
9.2 percent of patients died
Regarding the evolution of the disease, the yearbook reflects that 65.3 percent of patients diagnosed in 2015 were cured or "completed treatment". Regarding mortality cases, 9.2 died from "pathologies directly or indirectly related to the tuberculous process".
In addition, 11.8 continued in treatment when the yearbook was prepared, "due to the depth of the lesions, mainly pulmonary". According to the yearbook, "2.6 percent of cases have a treatment longer than 12 months due to multi-resistance to first-line drugs".
Continued decline
These data indicate, both if we analyze the situation of Lanzarote and that of the archipelago as a whole, that in recent years, with the exception of 2014, there has been a decrease in the number of cases of tuberculosis.
In November of last year, when two cases of tuberculosis were detected in two educational centers in Lanzarote, the Ministry of Health of the Canary Islands recalled that cases occur every year, "although to a lesser extent". After activating the mandatory action protocol, the general director of Public Health, Ricardo Redondas, made an appeal, as published by La Voz, asking that "social alarm not be generated".
Redondas also explained then that the Canary Islands had been the first community to promote a Plan to Eradicate the disease. Even deadlines were set to eradicate this pathology. "We have proposed the first eradication goal for 2030 and the second for 2050, since it cannot be eliminated immediately," said the representative of the Canary Islands Executive.
Incubation period of two to twelve weeks
Tuberculosis includes a wide range of diseases caused by species of the mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. It can affect any organ, "although the pulmonary form is more frequent than the extrapulmonary". Regarding the transmission mechanism, the most common, according to what was stated by Public Health in a statement, "is the airborne route by small droplets (0.5 to 10 microns in diameter)". The disease can also be transmitted "by direct contact through mucous membranes and non-intact skin, but these mechanisms are extremely rare in our environment".
Regarding the incubation period, from the moment of infection "until a demonstrable primary lesion or a significant tuberculin reaction appears, two to twelve weeks may pass".