The History of Tuberculosis Management in Costa Rica

Tuberculosis has been one of the earliest diseases to affect humans and is therefore considered an infectious disease-causing significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The fight against this disease began in our country in the early 20th century with a sanatorium approach, and subsequently with the implementation of various strategies proposed by the World Health Organization to advance towards its elimination. The objective of this report is to provide information on the approach to tuberculosis in Costa Rica.

Methods: Qualitative descriptive study. It included the review of articles in scientific journals such as Scielo, systematic reviews in LILACS, PubMed, Cochrane, and data collected from the Epidemiological Surveillance Subarea of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund.

Results: The fight against tuberculosis began in our country in the 20th century with the establishment of the Sanatorio Durán (Durán Sanatorium). With the discovery of the Koch bacillus and medications for its treatment, there was a shift from a sanatorium approach to the implementation of different strategies suggested by the World Health Organization aimed at strengthening timely diagnosis and treatment, as well as surveillance of co-infection tuberculosis/human immunodeficiency virus, drug resistance, latent infection, and intensified case finding in vulnerable populations.

Conclusions: The Ministry of Health and the Costa Rican Social Security Fund have been supporting the fight against tuberculosis; however, achieving the goals set by the World Health Organization requires health authorities to continue prioritizing the fight against this disease, to provide all necessary resources and cutting-edge supplies for its diagnosis and timely treatment. Only in this way can we progress towards its elimination.