[Prevalence of recurrent respiratory tuberculosis in the tense epidemic situation]

The authors studied the rates of respiratory tuberculosis morbidity and recurrences in 6 towns of Kazakhstan, in half of them for 3 years. The study covered 4779 new cases of tuberculosis and 1150 patients with its recurrences; chemotherapy was performed in accordance with the DOTS strategy in 255 patients (Group I) and by the routine procedures in 895 (Group 2). The study has demonstrated that the rate of recurrences may be one of the criteria for assessing the tension of the tuberculosis epidemiological situation. The high rate of morbidity corresponds to that of recurrences. Recurrences are of fundamental value for forming a contingent of patients with tuberculosis. They are more significantly more frequently accompanied by bacterial isolation than new-onset tuberculosis. In Group 1, recurrences occur thrice less frequently than those in Group 2; however, the rate of the latter tends to decrease.