Tuberculosis Among Medical and Academic Students

¹ The Department of Student Health, University of Pennsylvania.

Programs for the control of tuberculosis among college students are now being conducted at several hundred institutions. The incidence of tuberculous infection among entering students has shown a very significant decrease during the past fifteen years. In most sections of the United States less than 30 per cent of undergraduate students react to tuberculin and in many areas, less than 20 per cent.

During the past fifteen years a continuous program of tuberculosis case finding at the University of Pennsylvania has resulted in the detection of 177 students with pulmonary tuberculosis. Medical students and nurses frequently show surprisingly high rates of infection during their training, a condition which invariably gives rise to a high incidence of disease. Tuberculin tests applied at intervals of two months provide a most accurate method of determining those phases of medical school training which offer the greater risks of tuberculous infection. Chest roentgenograms should be provided for all medical students who are reactors to tuberculin at least twice during each academic year.