The Present Status of Active Tuberculosis in a General Hospital; A Study of 186 Cases

To study the present status of TBin a general hospital, we reviewed the records of 186 patients with TB at the Saga Medical School Hospital. Ninety-two patients (49.5%) had extrapulmonary tuberculosis and 59 patients (31.7%) had complicated severe diseases. The variety of TB lesions and underlying diseases often caused diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis. In fact, 16 cases were not identified to be TB until after death. The TBprevalence was significantly high in malignant disease, diabetes mellitus, collagen disease and chronic renal failure among the total number of patients discharged. Twenty-one patients developed TB while on an intensive therapy for underlying diseases. Unfortunately, 22 patients with TB died in our hospital. These findings suggest that special care must be taken to prevent TBin a general hospital. Weemphasize that early diagnosis of TBdepends on the suspicion of this infection on the part of the physician.