Tuberc Respir Dis.  1976 Jun;23(2):92-102. 10.4046/trd.1976.23.2.92.

Findings of Tuberculosis Patients in Family with Positive Tuberculin Test of Preschool Children

• KMID: 2528962
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1976.23.2.92

Abstract

Unfortunately, the tuberculosis, which is preventable and curable is still one of the most serious heaIth hazards in Korea. In 1970, the tuberculosis prevalence rate in Korea was 4.2%, which means about 1.3 million tuberculosis patients existed in Korea at the time of the survey. However, the registered tuberculosis cases were only 12. 4% in 1973. It is estimated that the Iarge number of unregistered cases have been hidden in population without knowing themselves having active tuberculosis. ln the tuberculosis controI program, more effective and economic case finding methods have long been sought to soIve the problem. This study was to test a hypothesis that tuberculin skin test of preschool children might identify the source of infection in the family under the assumption that the preschooI children are Iess active and their major activities are confined to mostly with family members. This hypothesis was tested in two ways: prospective and retrospective approaches. The data collected for the Second National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in col!aboration with the Korean National Tuberculosis Association in 1970 were used for. the test. The prospective approach showed that the prevalence rate for tuberculosis determined by X-ray finding among those who were family members of preschool children whose skin test was positive was 5.1% and among those who were family members of preschool children whose skin test was negative was 3.0%. Therefore, the prevalence rate of tuberculosis cases in the family with positive preschool children was 1.7 times higher than that of the family of preschool children with negative skin test. And this was turned out to be statistically significant. This finding was fou'nd out to be similar in urban and rural as wel! as by age distribution. In retrospective approach, the skin test positive rates of preschool children were 1.8 times higher among those whose family member had tuberculosis patients than among those whose family member had no' tuberculosis patients. This finding was also similar in urban and rural. ln conclusion, the hypothesis was proved to be true in both prospective and retrospective approaches. However, we are not sure that applying this method to improve case findings will be feasibile in the fields. It is suggested that further study particularly on the costbenefit analysis for the application of this method at the field is necessary.