Clinical comparison of active primary tuberculosis in recent years and the past

Abstract

Three hundred and forty-four cases of active primary tuberculosis admitted to the National Sanatorium Seiransou Hospital from 1980 to 1987 were studied and compared with 101 cases admitted from 1966 to 1969. None had a previous history of tuberculosis, and all were diagnosed via positive smears for acid-fast bacilli and/or positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis cultures. The age distribution showed that in the recent cases, the highest incidence among the male patients was observed in the middle-age group (30-59 yr) and in the older age group (over 60 yr) among the female patients. In the earlier cases, the younger (under 29 yr) and middle-age groups showed a higher incidence than the older age group for both sexes. However, when the prevalence rate was calculated for recent and past cases using the total population of the districts where the patients lived, it was observed that tuberculosis was most prevalent among the older age group for both sexes. Seventy percent of these cases were admitted to the hospital due to self-conscious symptoms, and 20% were referred as a result of mass-screening chest X-ray examinations. The rest of cases were discovered by routine radiographs taken during admission for unrelated illnesses. Some of the middle- and older-aged patients had predisposing factors, such as diabetes mellitus, gastric ulcers and malignancy, in their past histories or as complicating diseases. Twenty percent of all cases had a family history of tuberculosis. In most cases, a second family member was admitted with tuberculosis within 10 years after the first family member's presentation; however, some cases developed after 30-40 years. This fact suggests a possible hereditary or genetic disposition rather than direct transmission of M. tuberculosis. Drug resistance was observed in 5-19% of the primary cases, highest in the younger age group, in whom tuberculous lesions revealed on chest X-rays were unilateral rather than bilateral as in the older patients. Radiograph findings were primarily infiltrative in the past, whereas cavitation was the prominent feature in recent cases. Tuberculin skin testing was 90% positive in all groups except the older-age males, whose positivity rate was 71%. In the past, 25% of the cases were treated with both surgery and chemotherapy, including SM, PAS and INH, whereas only 2.5% were operated in recent cases. There were 11 cases (3.2%) of extrapulmonary tuberculosis that included involvement of the urinary tract, larynx, ribs and cervical lymph nodes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)