An assessment of the place of follow-up pulmonary tuberculosis

I n 1971--4 forty-four patients were found to have drug-susceptible tubercle bacilli in their sputum more than one year after a previous positive result. Comparison of their case records with those of 45 controls showed that inadequate chemotherapy was by far the most important cause of relapse. Most patients who have had adequate chemotherapy for pulmonary tuberculosis should be discharged. Patients who have certain risk factors or who have had inadequate or irregular chemotherapy should be followed up indefinitely.