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. 1964;30(4):459–518.

Tuberculosis in tropical Africa

An epidemiological study*

E Roelsgaard, E Iversen, C Bløcher
PMCID: PMC2554833  PMID: 14178027

Abstract

Up to the end of the nineteenth century the tubercle bacillus apparently had little opportunity of disseminating among the rather isolated tribes of tropical Africa. With the creation of large centres of trade and industry in the wake of European colonization, tuberculosis seems to have spread rapidly over the continent and is today found everywhere.

In a number of tuberculosis prevalence surveys conducted by WHO during 1955-60, randomly selected population groups were tuberculin tested, X-rayed and had sputa examined by direct microscopy. The three methods of examination were applied independently of one another.

Data collected during the surveys have been analysed with a view to discovering common epidemiological features of tuberculosis in tropical Africa, assessing the reliability of the diagnostic methods employed and discussing their usefulness in future tuberculosis control programmes.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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