011 |
FATE OF CASES DIAGNOSED IN A SURVEY |
Raj Narain, G Ramanatha Rao, G Chandrasekhar &
Pyare Lal: Proceed Natl TB & Chest Dis Workers Conf,
Calcutta, 1966,72-78. |
The report describes the changes that occurred
during second survey carried out after an interval of one and half
years in the cases diagnosed at the first survey done during 1961-62
from among a total population of about 62,000 in 119 villages in
Bangalore District. It was observed that (1) Of the 62 sputum smear
positive cases also having suggestive chest X-ray shadows, 34% had
died, 35% were sputum positive and 31% had become culture negative
after 1½ years. Of the 10 smear positive cases who were X-ray
normal, non-e was culture positive at the start and 7 were negative
by culture and smear after 1½ years. Of the 67 scanty smear
positive cases (1 to 3 bacilli seen), only 3 were sputum positive,
10 were having X-ray shadows and half were tuberculin negative after
1½ years. (2) Of the 88 culture only positive cases (20 or
more colonies and with X-ray evidence of disease) 31% had died and
47% continued to be sputum positive after 1½ years. A much
smaller proportion of these changes occurred among culture positive
cases with less than 20 colonies. (3) There were 457 persons having
radiologically active tuberculosis on the basis of interpretation
of a single X-ray picture by two independent readers but whose sputum
were negative for AFB (suspect cases). Of these, 38% were tuberculin
negative also. Of those suspect cases who were tuberculin positive,
9% become sputum positive after 1½ years, while only 2% of
the tuberculin negative suspect cases became sputum positive.
It is concluded that there is a lot of variation
in fate among the different categories of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Further, attention has been drawn to the possibility of self healing
in about 30% of the bacillary cases after 1½ years.
|
KEY WORDS: FATE, CASE, SUSPECT CASE, NATURAL
CURE, PREVALENCE. |
027 |
RELAPSE AMONG NATURALLY CURED CASES OF PULMONARY
TUBERCULOSIS |
AK Chakraborty & GD Gothi: Indian J TB 1976,
23, 8-13. |
The five year longitudinal epidemiological study
in south India (1961-68) showed that a considerable proportion of
bacteriologically proven cases found in a survey got cured naturally
without the facility of organised treatment in the survey area.
This "natural cure" could be an epidemiologically significant
phenomenon- depending on the stability of such a cure or in other
words, the frequency of relapses among the naturally cured. In all,
108 naturally cured cases of tuberculosis out of a total of 269
cases, from among about 62,000 persons surveyed twice, were followed
up for varying periods of 1 to 3½ years.
It was observed that the average relapse rate was
85.4 per 1000 person years of observation, there being no difference
between the two sexes. Relapse rates were however higher in persons
aged 20 and more compared to those 5-10 years old. Relapses were
not dependent on the bacteriological status at initial diagnosis
i.e., whether positive by culture alone or positive by smear and
culture. The death rate among the naturally cured was 42.7 per 1000
person years and together with relapse constituted the unfavourable
fate after natural cure. It has been calculated that as an input,
adding to the pool of bacillary cases in the community, the ratio
of relapse cases to cases arising afresh from the general population
in a year would roughly be in the order of 1:16. It is concluded
that the naturally cured status could be considered as an epidemiologically
favourable situation, though much less so when compared to the chemotherapeutically
achieved cure.
|
KEY WORDS: RELAPSE, NATURAL CURE, CASE, RURAL
POPULATION, SURVEY. |