Indoor Air as a Risk Factor for Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a communicable disease that is compulsorily notifiable in the Czech Republic. As part of this process regular publication of epidemiological data on tuberculosis started in 1960 at the Institute of Health Information and Statistics. Here patients' data were collected in the Register of Tuberculosis (RT). In the early 1980s another information system that recorded reports of bacillary tuberculosis (ISBT) was started on mainframe computers as a centrally operated information system. Nowadays the two systems co-operate in the notification and validation of all individual data on tuberculosis cases. Risk information is gathered if available together with data relevant to the disease itself. The second information system, ISBT, collects data on positive laboratory results. ISBT notified 9.2 cases per 100,000 of population in the year 2000. This figure has decreased in the last few years. The RT notified 14/100,000 population incident cases in 2000. Both figures have fluctuated around these levels during the last ten years. The incidence of tuberculosis in risk groups is higher than in general population. In prisoners as well as in migrants (officially recorded) the incidence is higher than in the general population. Age distribution in these risk groups is different from the general population and recalls similar patterns from developing countries. There are also several cases of tuberculosis notified among health professionals, clinical and laboratory staff. It is always supposed that these professionals are infected in connection with their profession. The use of modern molecular techniques in everyday epidemiological practice will improve things further by documenting more precisely the spread of tuberculosis bacilli through the community.