[Risk factors in the development of pulmonary tuberculosis and the characteristics of its course in people over 50].

Study of the onset and course of pulmonary tuberculosis in 121 patients between the ages of 50 and 75 years showed that 31.4% of the patients belonged to a high risk group of tuberculosis. Study also revealed a high frequency of occurrence of disseminated and fibrocavernous tuberculosis, the predominance of disseminated processes, frequent destruction of lung tissue, massive bacilli excretion and marked clinical manifestations of the disease, which develops in more than half of the patients in the period between the established terms of prophylactic fluorographic examination.