Aspects of diagnostic errors of pulmonary tuberculosis under the conditions of the Сovid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Medical error is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite the rapid progress in the field of medical technologies, the frequency of diagnostic errors remains current. Tuberculosis (TB) is the single disease caused by a single pathogen with the highest number of deaths, being a disease that can be prevented and cured. TB is an infectious disease, which in terms of impact on mortality is surpassed only by HIV and recently by COVID-19. According to WHO data, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reduction in diagnosed TB cases. This is a descriptive and retrospective study of cases of pulmonary TB with errors in the diagnostic process of the disease. It was found that the clinical form of infiltrative pulmonary TB (94%) and sensitive TB (90%) cases predominate in patients with errors in the TB diagnosis process. Detection of TB patients was in 82% of cases through the passive way, the most frequent „mask” was the „Pneumonic” one. The causes that cause errors in the diagnosis of TB are: late referral to the doctor, diagnostic non-compliance of patients, unsatisfactory treatment, low vigilance of doctors towards this disease. The risk factors in the erroneous diagnosis of TB are: epidemiological - contact with a patient with pulmonary TB, social - unemployment, migration, chronic alcoholism, antecedents of detention. In the differential diagnosis of TB with other diseases, the anamnestic data and the microbiological examination must be highlighted.