[Characterization of the current foci of tuberculous infection]

The epidemic foci formed by patients with tuberculosis in the Admiralteisky District, Saint Petersburg in 1994-2005 were surveyed. The study showed that the bulk of the foci had been formed by patients suffering from the clinical forms of tuberculosis without the chronic pattern of a process, that of first-grade epidemic burden. These are most commonly the foci of new-onset tuberculosis; the proportion of comers from other areas and confinement institutions was not greater than 15%. The one-year foci formed by the patients living in the communal flats made up their bulk. Under the conditions of a megapolis, the cases of small epidemic are extremely few and they do not affect the intensity of the bacillary nucleus in the population of the district. The contribution of the foci formed by the homeless and migrants to the formation of the bacillary nucleus was small, but showed a stable upward trend. Every five focus was that of drug-resistant tuberculosis and they were shown to tend to increase.