[The exclusively outpatient treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis under the conditions in Romania]. / Tratamentul exclusiv ambulator al tuberculozei pulmonare în conditiile tarii noastre.

In order to demonstrate the possibility of an exclusively outpatient treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in the present conditions in our country, a study was performed on 140 cases in Bucharest. The admission criteria were as follows: sputum negative patients (M-C-); paubacillary cases, sputum positive only in culture (M-C+); Tb pleuritis; patients refusing hospitalization, regardless their bacteriological status, and sputum positive cases also at smear examination (M+C+), if they had no household contacts under 20 years of age or with a good social economic standard of life. The patients were given the intensive chemotherapy regimen HSRZ 2/7 for 6 months, that was prolonged to 9 months in specified cases. A number of 31 patients were non-bacillary (M-C-) out of which 14 cases with pleuritis; 70 were paucibacillary (M-C+), and 39 were smear positive (M+C+). Out of 109 patients which were bacteriologically confirmed, sputum reversion in culture was obtained in 71.6% of cases at 2 months and in 89.0% at 3 months. At treatment end, sputum negativation was not obtained in a single patient (0.9%). Case follow-up for 6-41 months after treatment end led to the registration of 8 therapeutical failures and bacteriological relapses (5.7%). Five cases recovered through re-treatment, 1 patient (0.7%) died through tuberculosis, and 2 (1.4%) became chronic case. Periodical control of the 95 contact children in the respective households revealed a single conversion of the tuberculin reaction and no Tb case after treatment start in index cases, which proves the epidemiological reliability of the method.

[The recovery of work capacity within the framework of short-term antitubercular chemotherapy]. / Recuperarea capacitatii de munca în cadrul chimioterapiei antituberculoase de scurta durata.

The authors compare the results of chemotherapy reflected in the proportion of recoveries of work capacity and the number of retired persons in two groups of patients--one including 102 cases treated between 1970 and 1971 by a 3/6 regimen, and another one including 91 patients treated in 1986 by a modern intensive 3 + 3 regimen. The data indicate better results with the 1986 lot as compared with the 1970-1971 lot. In the 1986 group there were no fatalities and the persons that recovered their work capacity represented 90.1% of the total. By contrast, in the group treated between 1970 and 1971 there were two fatalities and only 84.3% of all the patients did recover the work capacity. The number of retired persons decrease from 11.7% in the first group to 7.7% in the second. Temporary incapacity decreased from an average of 321 days to an average of 267 days in the second group. All these results were obtained by shortening the treatment from an average of 9 months to an average of 6 months.