Tuberculosis and schooling: A literature review

The social profile of tuberculosis affects men of economically active age and low level of schooling, with direct relation to misery and social exclusion, leading to the abandonment of treatment. Thus, the objective was to correlate the educational level with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. We opted for the bibliographical review of published articles from 2010-2015, in Portuguese and available in LILACS, Medline and VHL; with the descriptors "Tuberculosis" and "Level of Education". Of the 59 articles found, only 11 were selected and analyzed. There is a paucity of data that correlates only the disease with the level of education of the patient, which is directly related to income and social conditions and low knowledge about TB. This leads to the abandonment of therapy, making control difficult and contributing to drug resistance. Thus, a continuous education of the population and a greater register of cases is expected, describing the profile of the patient with TB to develop strategies that control the disease