Epidemiological Study of Tuberculosis in College Students (Ryukus)

Abstract

An epidemiological study of tuberculosis among students at the University of the Ryukyus was tried here on the basis of the data collected from the survey made among 22, 391 students at the University of the Ryukyus during the period of 10 years between 1956 and 1965. 1. There is an indication that the number of pre-college students suffering from tuberculosis has rapidly been increasing. There are more students who suffer from pulmonory tuberculosis than any other type, and most of them have caught the disease at junior and senior high school age. There is also an indication that the number of students who enter the University of the Ryukyus before recovering from the disease, the number of students who are receiving medication while attending school, and the number of students who leave school for treatment have recently been increasing. I presume that there are surely many patients among applicants for the freshmenat the University of the Ryukyus. 2. The number of student patients gradually decreased during the period of 3 years between 1963 and 1965, and 1965 shows the decrease of 0.66% since 1963. The number of student patients who suffered from the intermediate stage of tuberculosis was a qurter of the total of student patients in 1963, but in 1965 it rapidly decreased to lessthan a tenth of the total. Correspondingly there are more student patients suffering from the elementary stage of tuberculosis. Each year there are more student patients who needed treatment. However, the number of student patients who needed hospital treatment or had to leave school for treatment gradually decreased. The number of student patients who were infected with tuberculosis before entering the University of the Ryukus is, however, 3 to 4 times as many as that of those who were infected with the disease after entering the University. There is a tendency for more student patients to comefrom rural area than from anywhere else. However, the morbidty rate of tuberculosis among studests is from rural area is coming closer to the rate of students from agricultural and fishing villages and towns. Among the total number of students who leave school because of sickness, there are still, however, even though the number is decreasing yearly, more tuberculosis patients than patients of other diseases. Thus, the number of tuberculosis patients at the University of the Rynkyus has been decreasing, and there is an dicationin that a larger number are minor cases of tuberculosis. However, the morbidity rate of tuberculosis among students at this University is still higher than that among Japanese students. 3. Students at the University of the Ryukyus naturally have a positive reaction of tuberculin test since they don't take an inoculation of BCG. The positive reaction rate of a tuberculin test among students at the University of the Ryukyus has gradually been decreasing. I don't think, however, that this phenomenon neccesarily means the decrease of tuberculosis. Like the morbidity rate of tuberculosis, there is an indication that a positive reaction rate of a tuberculin test among students from rural areas has gradually been becoming closer to the rate in agricultural and fishing villages and towns.