Tuberculin sensitivity in young children (0-4 years old) as an index of tuberculosis in the community.

The purpose of this study was to find out whether the prevalence of infection in young children might be used as an index of the tuberculosis problem in a population. Tuberculin testing was done in a random sample of 2,883 children (0-4 years) in Bangalore city, of those 2,589 (89.8%) actually completed testing. A total of 4340 children were registered in 59 villages and of these 4090 (94.2%) were tuberculin tested. The villages were from Bangalore, Kolar and Mandya as these districts were within 100 miles from Bangalore city. The team went from house to house and made a complete registration of the children 0-4 years in the selected houses. Information on socio-economic status, density of population etc., was also collected before giving tuberculin 1 TU RT 23 with Tween 80. The results of the study showed that prevalence of infection in 0-4 years age group of cantonment area was 1.6% and in the crowded city area 4.1% at 14mm induration level. In the rural population, the prevalence of tuberculosis infection was 2%. In the city, a positive correlation between tuberculosis infection and socio-economic condition was obtained while it was not seen in rural areas. It was not possible to establish any correlation between tuberculosis disease and infection either in rural or urban areas, as the population was not examined for the prevalence of tuberculosis disease.