Is the Screening of Tuberculosis in this Country by Symptoms PromptEnough?

Overview

The objective of the submitted paper is to evaluate the promptness of active and passivescreening (by symptoms) of pulmonary TB in the Czech Republic in 1997. In 1993-1997 thenumber of new cases of TB detected by the passive method predominated (75%) over the numberof new cases of TB detected by active methods - 14-15% new cases of TB p.a. Comparison of thetwo screening methods revealed that passive methods detected significantly more microscopi-cally positive and bacteriologically confirmed cases than the use of active methods. It was alsofound that in groups of patients with newly detected pulmonary TB who do not have regularhealth care (alcohol addicts, lonely people) the ratio of microscopically positive findings issignificantly higher than in groups of patients where regular health care is obligatory (TBcontacts, people hospitalised for prolonged periods in social institutions and prisoners). Theauthors assume therefore that passive screening in the Czech Republic was not sufficientlyearly and thus not prompt enough.

Key words:
tuberculosis - TB supervision - passive screening - active screening.