[Study on familial attacks of pulmonary tuberculosis in Sapporo City].

We studied familial attacks of pulmonary tuberculosis in Sapporo City from 1987 to 1990. There were 146 sources of infection. Two hundred twenty three were infected secondly. Chemotherapy was given to the 75 out of 223 patients. Chemoprophylaxis was given to the total of 148 children. The average ages of the sources, those who were infected secondly and those who had given chemoprophylaxis were 44.8, 32.2 and 7.7 years of age respectively. The ratio of male vs female was 1:0.4 among the sources. The main routes of transmission of this disease were from husbands to wives, from fathers to children, and from grandfathers to grandchildren. The patients who did not have health examination in the preceding one year of their present diagnoses had more severe state of disease as well as higher Gaffky degrees and were treated for more than one year. The infectious patients accounted for more than 50% of the active pulmonary tuberculosis in Sapporo City in 1990. Tuberculin skin test has been performed in almost cases of family examination and the period of chemoprophylaxis has been standardized along the guideline for the chemoprophylaxis by Japan Tuberculosis Association and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Family and relatives of the patient who expectorates tuberculosis bacilli should take at least one examination annually. Younger people should take it more frequently and chemoprophylaxis should be given to the child whose reaction of Tuberculin skin test is strongly positive.