Kekkaku : [Tuberculosis]
-
The incidence of tuberculosis patients increased again recently and many outbreaks of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients were reported. The purpose of this study is to investigate the present situation of the delay in case finding of PTB patients. 1) Of 236 PTB patients who were admitted to our hospital for treatment in 1997, 118 patients, who were detected by their symptomatic visits, were enrolled in to this study. 50 percentile patient's delay was 21.0 days, and 50 percentile doctor's delay was 7.2 days. 50 percentile total delay was 42.0 days, which was longer than about 28 days obtained by summing up the 50 percentile patient's delay and doctor's delay. The number of cases detected within 28 days was only 39 cases (33.1%). ⋯ The delay in examination was considered accountable for doctor's delay, with 12 cases (57%) which were treated as bronchial asthma and 6 cases (29%) in which the sputum examination for tuberculosis bacilli was not performed after the detection of chest abnormal shadows on chest X-rays. 5) The present situation of case findings in Japan was studied. Patient's delay did not improve in recent years, while doctor's delay was improve in 2000, after Declaration of State of Emergency concerning tuberculosis. 6) As the countermeasures against patient's delay, it appears necessary to continue enlightenment on PTB, and selective detection by health examination for high risk groups is necessary. As the countermeasures against doctor's delay, it appears important to recommend to all doctors to pay attention to the patients with cough and sputum and undergo sputum examination.