[Difference of clinical features between bacilli positive tuberculosis patients diagnosed at the outpatients dept. (OPD) and diagnosed after admission].

In order to determine the clinical features of patients whose tubercle bacilli were found after admission, the characteristics of 23 cases (17 males, 6 females) diagnosed after admission (Group I) were compared with 16 other cases (12 males, 4 females) diagnosed before admission (Group II). The patients in Group I were more elderly and had severer underlying diseases than those in Group II. In addition, the majority of the patients of Group I showed manifestations of respiratory infections similar to bacterial pneumonia. Therefore, 14 cases (61%) in Group I were diagnosed as bacterial pneumonia on admission. Radiological findings showed that less than half of Group I showed typical X-ray findings of tuberculosis such as location of lesions in the apex and upper lung field, cavity formation, and mixture of or new and old infiltrative lesions. Also on the PPD skin test, 7 cases (30%) of Group I were negative. Due to the above results, in many cases it took more than 10 days from admission to make a final diagnosis as tuberculosis. There were several differences in findings between two groups, but there was no definite signs to diagnose all patients at the OPD. It is therefore considered to be important to keep in mind the following to prevent admission of open tuberculosis patients into a general hospital: (1) Admission of patients suspected to have open tuberculosis at the OPD should be postponed until their smears are proven negative. (2) Sputum examinations for AFB always should be carried out in patients with respiratory symptoms.