[The prevalence of tuberculous infection in 6- and 14-year-olds in 1990-1991]

Tb infection prevalence and incidence are considered as the most relevant epidemiological indices which characterizes the endemic disease in a population. The study tried to establish the level of Tb infection prevalence in the age groups "6-7" and "14-15", based on the information included in the card-index for BCG pre- vaccination in the above groups, in 11 districts of Romania and the city of Bucharest. To calculate the Tb prevalence results from the BCG tests in 24,175 pupils aged 6 and 14, the persons with reactions of 10-19 mm Palmer type I-II, and reactions > or = 20 mm regardless the Palmer type were considered as infected. In 1990, infection prevalence was of 2.13% and 6.73% in pupils aged 6 and 14, respectively. The study was not intended to establish the average level of Tb infection prevalence for the whole country since it would have required adequate samples of population and working teams of the same technical level as regards skin testing and its interpretation. The obtained data allowed the calculation of the average annual rate of infection for "age-group 0-6" within the study group (0.36%). It is estimated that infection prevalence evolution can be followed up at district level, by processing the data of the card-index for pre-vaccinal tests in the pupils of the I-st and VIII-th forms.