[Transitional pattern of the clinical features of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in a community hospital].

To determine changes in the clinical features of recent patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in a community hospital without restricted tuberculosis wards, the clinical findings of 112 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (containing miliary tuberculosis) during the past 15 years were compared by dividing the patients into three groups, each encompassing a five-year period. Recently, the number of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis was found to be increasing in a community hospital. In particular, the percentages of elderly patients and smear positive patients have increased. However, because of the improving awareness on tuberculosis, we have diagnosed TB cases correctly on admission and tended to perform the appropriate treatment. The comparative study between pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed at the outpatients department and diagnosed after admission indicated that the patients diagnosed after admission showed pneumonia-like infiltrative shadows without cavity formation and lower smear positivity for tubercle. Fortunately, resistance to antituberculous drugs of isolated tubercle bacilli in our community hospital has not yet increased and the prognosis of the cases proved to be good when the appropriate treatment was performed at an early stage.