[Pneumonia in patients from a tuberculosis dispensary]

In their everyday practice phthisiologists have to make a differential diagnosis and to treat patients with pneumonia who account for 2.7% of the patients treated at tuberculosis hospital. The main reason of diagnostic errors in patients with pneumonia in general hospitals is that the compulsory diagnostic minimum is not observed and the patients' sputum is not tested for acid-resistant Mycobacteria. The paper analyzes the results of treatment in 20 patients with pneumonia in the contagious isolation wards of the tuberculosis hospital, who were in-effectively treated in the outpatient setting. Multimodality treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, including rifampicin and streptomycin, aerosols, and physiotherapy may completely resolve infiltration and eliminate the clinical manifestations of the disease in 19 patients.