[Epidemiology of tuberculosis in Vladivostok]

In the early 1990s there was a great change in the tuberculosis situation in Vladivostok. Since 1992, the average total tuberculosis morbidity has increased by 22.7% and in 2000 it amounted to 91.0 per 100,000. Its morbidity among children increased by 90% in the same period. The morbidity due to tuberculosis in its risk groups is several times higher than that in the general population. The reasons for this rise were socioeconomic crisis, high population density in Vladivostok, intensive, virtually uncontrolled migration. The basic methods of detection of tuberculosis in Vladivostok, as in Russia as a whole, remain as follows: fluorography, bacteriology, and tuberculin diagnosis. The efficiency of each method is associated with the organization and financing of activities in detecting and with the potentialities of methods, personnel qualification. It is necessary to pay attention to the detection of tuberculosis in the risk groups, by making their register in order to enhance the effectiveness and to reduce the cost of existing methods. Strict control and management of a migration process and solution of social problems are needed.