Tuberculosis in medical students and nurses.

Abstract

The very significant decline in mortality from tuberculosis in recent years stands out as one of the major achievements in the field of public health. One of the most encouraging features of the present-day picture is the more rapid rate of decline which has prevailed since 1945. Provisional figures for 1950 indicate the death rate to be 15% below that of the previous year. During the past five years tuberculosis mortality has declined approximately 42%. Since this presentation deals with the problem of tuberculosis in young adults, we must not overlook the very favorable mortality experience of this particular age group. In 1948 the number of deaths in the age group 15 to 24 years was 26.2% below that of the previous year. This very significant improvement in tuberculosis mortality bears a very direct relationship to the marked decrease in prevalence of tuberculous infection. Extremely low levels of infection have