LE ROLE ET LA PLACE DES INFORMATIONS BACTERIOLOGIQUES DANS L'IDENTIFICATION DES SOURCES DE CONTAGION

Bacteriology is essential in the identification of the sources of tuberculous contagion. The role of microscopic examination, cultivation and challenge tests is considered and discussed. The microscopic examination, which permits an immediate detection of the most dangerous sources of contagion, is a capital element of information. Cultivation, which allows doubling at the number of contagious subjects discovered, is also capital. The challenge tests are of decisive importance in treating recurrent tuberculoses and in the epidemiologic surveillance of the primary resistance, but they have a lesser impact on the treatment of new cases of tuberculosis, given the virtually constant sensibility to rifampicin and ethambutol.