[Tuberculosis control in Czechoslovakia in 1987].

The authors evaluated control measures and their impact on the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in the CSR in 1987. All data on patients are reported and supplemented in the central register of patients; they are processed continuously. Two thirds of patients with TB of the respiratory system confirmed by bacteriological examination were detected during examination made because of complaints. In 13.3% of the patients it took more than three months before the diagnosis was established. A key position, as regards early detection of unknown TB patients, is held by doctors of the primary health care. The majority of patients with respiratory TB was middle-aged or in higher age groups. 17.2% of all patients suffered from diabetes, 6.6% from peptic ulcers. About one fifth of the patients were described as non-cooperating or alcoholics. Treatment adhered to principles of rational chemotherapy, using short-term therapeutic regimes. Satisfactory results were obtained in 98% of the patients. In 1987 a total of 2196 new cases of TB and relapses of TB of all localizations were reported, i.e. by 16% less than in 1986. Tuberculosis of the respiratory organs was recorded in 81% (1768) of the patients, extrapulmonary TB in 19% (428). The incidence of respiratory TB was 17/100,000 and the incidence of bacteriologically confirmed cases 11.8/100,000. Bacteriologically confirmed cases accounted for 69% of the incidence and cases with microscopically confirmed acid resistant rods in sputum for 48%.