Abstract
To the Editor:— I enjoyed the article by Hardy and Schmidek, Epidemiology of Tuberculosis Abroad a Ship, in the Jan 15 issue ( 203 :175, 1968). This study clearly illustrates the danger to tuberculin-negative persons when a sporadic case of active tuberculosis develops among them. There were 209 persons infected (conversion of tuberculin from negative to positive) and clinically detectable tuberculosis developed in 25 of them (albeit largely without symptoms). This clearly illustrates that primary tuberculosis is not without danger when it occurs in young adults. I wonder if the authors have information on the fate of those personnel (14.3% of the 532 men) who were already sensitive to tuberculin (harboring dormant infection) when the new exposure took place. From data presented by the undersigned in the May issue of the American Review of Respiratory Disease , one would guess that they were not endangered by the development of an active case
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