The Struggle for Eradication of Tuberculosis

¹ Director, Chest Disease Bureau, Newark Department of Health and Welfare.

1. Modern chemotherapy has simplified treatment in pulmonary tuberculosis and many active cases are now in the hands of general practitioners.

2. Mortality rates which have been steadily falling, appear to have reached a plateau.

3. Morbidity rates continue to drop leaving the false impression that tuberculosis is diminishing.

4. The unknown and undetected case forms the greatest hazard in a control program.

5. Mass x-ray film surveys only reach a small portion of the population and help to locate a small percentage of active cases.

6. Tuberculin testing and follow-up of the reactors forms the most lucrative method of case finding in a public health program.

7. The number of reactors in children is rapidly declining.

8. Eradication of tuberculosis can only be obtained by reducing the incidence of infection.