Tuberculosis contact tracing in an outpatient pulmonology practice

The aim of this study was to analyze the results of tuberculosis contact tracing Carried out in an out patient pulmonary center and assess its per formance in Detection of new cases. One thousand four hundred and three contacts of one hundred and ninety four tuberculosis patients were evaluated at Abbasi Shaheed hospital between 1996 and 1999. Out of them 852 were tuberculin positive and 178 persons [11. 8%] found to have active disease. The portion of infected and disease contacts were significantly higher for those who had contact with smear Positive patients and especially in children