[Tuberculosis surveys in Guerrero and new estimates of the magnitude of tuberculosis infection in Mexico].

Tuberculosis infection surveys are carried out by tuberculin skin test (Mantoux) which is a simple, cheap, valid and reliable procedure for the estimation of prevalence and incidence rates. In 1987 a survey was undertaken in children of 6-7 years old who attended the elementary school and who were not vaccinated (BCG) in the region of Iguala, México. Out of 6,095 children of such age group, just 531 were not vaccinated, thus the prevalence figure was 2.5% (CL05 = 0.1%, 5.3%). On the basis of the findings by Izaguirre et al, 26 years ago, who reported that about 10% of the children of this age group were infected, it can be estimated that the annual risk of infection is about three newly infected each year per 1,000 population. It is necessary to provide better estimates of the whole tuberculosis incidence rate.