Environmental Contamination and Distribution of Tuberculosis in Romania

The impact of environmental factors on public health is increasingly recognized globally, and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are significantly influenced by the quality of the environment. The research examines the correlation between contamination of the environment and the elevated prevalence of tuberculosis in Romania, one of the countries with the highest rates of the disease in Europe. In the context of European Union public health policies promoting integrated services and patient-centered approaches, this research highlights the determinant role of environmental factors in tuberculosis transmission. Geospatial data provided by the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Publicity and the SIRUTA nomenclature (Informatic System of the Registry of Territorial – Administrative Units, where SIRUTA is a numeric symbol specific to a given locality) were used to generate territorial distribution maps. Tuberculosis incidence statistics were extracted from the reports of the National Tuberculosis Surveillance and Control Program. By superimposing the geographical distribution of tuberculosis cases over areas with historical pollution, a significant correlation between environmental contamination and incidence of the disease was revealed. The results emphasize the impact of environmental quality on public health and reveal the importance of interdisciplinary analyses integrating environmental and socio-economic factors in the interpretation of national epidemiological data.