[NINETY YEARS OF THE JAPANESE SOCIETY FOR TUBERCULOSIS--Back to the Future for Research and Control of Tuberculosis]

The 90 years since the foundation of the Japanese Society for Tuberculosis in 1923 can be divided into three periods by three turning points, i.e., epidemiological transitions: 1911-1950 (the first period), 1953-1980 (the second period) and 1980-present (the third period). The progress of the Society is overviewed for each of these periods, and the several specific areas of research and control efforts are discussed. The first period might be viewed as a preparatory phase during which various tremendous efforts were made in basic, clinical, and epidemiological research that would bear fruit during the second period. Following this period, modern technologies were introduced into the national tuberculosis control program accompanied by related basic research, including the development and evolution of the theory of TB pathogenesis, X-ray diagnosis, and clinical trials of chemotherapy, of which the Society has been very proud. The problems of activities in the second period were carried over into the third period, together with the epidemiological challenge of the slowing of epidemiological improvement. For this period, the bibliometric technique was applied in the trial of objectively analyzing the trends of research, activities in publication. In addition, the USA's efforts to maintain awareness of TB, after the unexpected upsurge of TB during 1980s-90s due to its neglect in the past, were cited as lessons Japan should now learn.