[Effectiveness of the examination of the different categories of contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients as a part of epidemiological investigations].

In view of evaluating the global efficiency of the epidemiologic investigation in relation to its area an analysis was carried out of 127 investigations involving 1 252 tb contacts. The contacts were classified in three groups: intrafamilial and intradomiciliary, intrafamilial but outside the home, and extrafamilial and outside the home; the results of the examinations were compared between them on the one hand and with the proportion of allergic children (51.6%) and the instantaneous prevalence of bacilli eliminating cases (0.31%) on the other hand. These were obtained in an area with a high endemic ratio of tuberculosis, following integral biological and radiophotographic case-finding. Children who were tb contacts, belonging to the first group also included the highest proportion of allergies (48.3%) while in the other two groups the number of allergic children was similar to that of allergic children in the locality with a high endemic ratio of tuberculosis. The radiophotographic examination of adults who were contacts of tuberculous patients showed that the lowest proportion of tuberculous patients with active tuberculosis (0.4%), which was found in the third group, was still above the instantaneous prevalence of bacilliferic patients from the area with high ratio of endemic tuberculosis. In conclusion, the present technical structure of epidemiological investigations corresponds to the actual level of the endemy and no group of contacts can be excluded from the investigation.