[Models of tuberculosis control in countries with low tuberculosis prevalence]

To rationalize tuberculosis control in countries with low tuberculosis prevalence it is necessary to evaluate continuously some control measures and to propose suitable modifications. For years Czechoslovakia is taking part in the international research of methods of tuberculosis control; in compliance with the results of these studies its programme of tuberculosis control is being modified. Decision processes are more difficult, when measures till now applied should be limited or given up. In such cases it is necessary to evaluate not only the efficiency of defined health measures but also their possibilities of application, acceptability and influence on the tuberculosis situation in all. For the choice of appropriate models of tuberculosis control the application of experience from other countries should be regarded. However sometimes it is not possible to use this experience in the own country because there are obvious differences in other conditions. Mathematical simulation models may by of good help in the decision process answering the purpose of discerning the effect of different variants of the control measure on the epidemiological trends. For this purpose reliable statistic data should be available. To get such information a central tuberculosis register was established on CSR gathering data on new cases of tuberculosis, on relapses, on the further development of the cases of tuberculosis registered and on data concerning the quality of case-finding, diagnostics and therapy.