[Tuberculosis annual report 2010--(5) Case finding].

We reviewed the tuberculosis (TB) surveillance database to determine the mode of detection, delays in achieving a TB diagnosis, and patients' occupational status upon registration. Of the 23,261 TB patients who were newly notified in 2010, 81.7% were diagnosed at medical institutions. Of these, 12.0% were diagnosed during hospitalisation with a disease other than TB, and 9.9% were diagnosed during outpatient visits with diseases other than TB. The overall proportion of TB cases detected by contact examination was only 2.8%, but this mode of detection was higher (56.1%) among younger TB patients aged 0-14 years. Of the 18,328 pulmonary TB patients, 27.3% had only respiratory symptoms, 31.0% had both respiratory and other symptoms, and 16.4% had only non-respiratory symptoms. Approximately one-quarter of elderly patients aged > or = 80 years with symptomatic pulmonary TB had only non-respiratory symptoms. pulmonary TB tended to have long total delays (the amount of time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis). Among elderly patients, patient delays tended to be short, whereas doctor delays tended to be long. Of the 2,785 female pulmonary TB patients aged 20-59 years, 14.5% were medical workers and 10.4% of these were nurses.