[The value of bacteriological controls in the epidemiological studies of tuberculosis]

The authors make an analysis of bacteriological data concerning patients with tuberculosis from a certain area (the Jassy County) which have been recorded between 1971 and 1980. An analysis is presented of the instantaneous and of the maximal prevalence of tuberculous bacilli carriers in the urban and the rural environments, and the incidence of tuberculosis in children and adults, also in the urban and the rural media. Some other aspects are studied of primary drug resistance, as well as of secondary resistance. The data presented in the paper stress the major role of the bacteriological investigation in the epidemiological follow-up of tuberculosis, as well as the fact that bacteriological indicators are capable to evidence essential aspects of the evolution of tuberculosis endemia in a certain area.