[Immune system and pathogenesis of tuberculosis].

Immune characteristics available for 225 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis were considered with reference to the process severity and progression. Some combinations of immunological parameters reflecting T- and B- cell function proved to provide sufficient information on the disease severity and trends in its progress. Immunological criteria of negative or positive course of tuberculosis vary with prevailing inflammation: productive or exudative. An individual approach should be practiced in reading immunograms which require due regard for immunopathological changes in the lungs.