On the classification of tuberculous diseases

Abstract

It is unlikely that in any other disease there have been more attempts to establish a classification than in tbc. And this is quite understandable. The value of tuberculosis as a social disease is of great interest for a public physician, statistician and clinical practitioner, on the other hand, the multifaceted clinical manifestations of tbc infection, from galloping consumption of old authors to chronic forms of benign pulmonary tbc, creates great difficulties for the clinician in his daily work. And the doctor at the patient's bedside, individualizing the case, nevertheless looks in it for those common features that unite similar groups of patients. This gives him the opportunity, using one or another scheme, to somewhat facilitate his complex work on identifying and differentiating the tbc material. If we add to this the need to establish a common language for scientific and social purposes (mass surveys, studying the influence of the profession on tbc, statistical processing of materials from tuberculosis institutions, clarifying issues of working capacity, sending to a sanatorium, etc.), then the need for a unified classification of tbc will appear undeniable. What are the basic requirements for a tuberculosis classification?