The distribution of tuberculous infection among households in African communities.

Abstract

Is tuberculosis in under-developed areas to some extent a household infection, as several authorities claim it to be in Europe and in temperate climates in general? The following analysis, based on data collected in a number of territories in Africa south of the Sahara, shows that, although a statistically significant accumulation of infection does occur in certain households, its extent is so moderate that it would be unjustifiable to confine control work to any limited category of households, whatever the criterion for their selection.The main conclusion, therefore, is that the entire community must be covered in anti-tuberculosis schemes designed to reduce the tuberculosis problem in the population at large in such countries as those surveyed here.