TUBERCULOSIS AMONG STUDENTS AND GRADUATES OF MEDICINE

Abstract

An attempt was made to trace 1894 students who graduated or were scheduled to graduate from the School of Medicine at the University of Minnesota from 1919 to 1936. Group I includes 1441 in the classes from 1919 to 1932 inclusive. No special routine examination for tuberculosis was made of these students while they were in school. The whereabouts of 92.5% was detd. 92 of the 1441 reported having had clinical tuberculosis and 11 had died from this disease. Of the total number of deaths from all causes, tuberculosis was responsible for 26.2%. Group II consisted of 453 students who graduated from 1933 to 1935 inclusive. These students were tested periodically with tuberculin as long as they did not react while in school. Annual X-ray films of the chests of the reactors and laboratory and clinical examinations, as well as periods of observation, were made to determine whether shadows which appeared in their chests were due to tuberculosis; 160 of these students reacted to tuberculin on entrance to the school of medicine and 135 became reactors while in school. The greatest increase in reactors occurred during the senior year. Of the 160 who reacted to tuberculin on entrance, 3.1% developed new lesions while in school or after graduation. Of those who became reactors while in school, 9.6% developed lesions whose locations could be detected while in school or following graduation. However, 2.75% represented only primary foci, 3.44% only pleurisy with effusion, 0.69% extrapulmonary lesions, and 2.75% chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. Four of the 453 students graduating from 1933 to 1936 died of non-tuberculous conditions, and there have been no deaths from tuberculosis.