TY - JOUR T1 - Epidemiological investigation in TB diagnosis must be reconsidered JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p2634 AU - Mihaela Archip AU - Maria Panescu AU - Camelia Vasilescu AU - Marilena Colea Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2634.abstract N2 - Aim: The purpose of this study is to prove the importance of the epidemiological investigation in early TB diagnosis.Material and method: We have analyzed the TB cases registered in three adult tuberculosis districts in Iasi, Romania. The patients have received TB treatment during 2010.We used the medical records, district records and IT records.During this period, we treated 211 TB patients: 178 pulmonary TB and 33 extra-pulmonary TB cases; we have recorded 168 new cases, 32 relapses, 10 patients were readmitted after failure, default, MDR chronics and one transfer.Using epidemiological investigation, we identified 22 cases (10.43% out of all analyzed cases). The medical history of the patients revealed that 84 of them (39.81%) had previous TB contact: 86.9% of these had domestic contact and only 13.1% of them had indirect TB contact.Conclusion: Out of the 211 cases, only 22 have been identified using epidemiological investigation. The medical history of 84 patients revealed TB contact, especially domestic TB contact. Moreover, in a single family, 4 domestic contacts developed pulmonary TB during the past 20 years. They all manifested the same type of drug resistance. This fact has been determined by using epidemiological investigation.We must reconsider:the periodic screening of TB contacts over a greater period of time;the key role of the family physician, who must be focused on evaluating a larger number of domestic/indirect TB contacts for a correct and efficient epidemiological investigation. ER -