THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON INTRAFAMILIAL TRANSMISSION OF TD_BERCULOSIS

Abstract

The study of household contacts of patients with tuberculosis offers a high yield in the diagnosis of new tuberculosis cases, because the incidence of the diseases is much higher than that of the general population. Moreover, it helps to identifY the risk factors for contagion, to detect new cases of disease early and to break the epidemiological chain of transmission (Vidal et a! 1997).

So, the aim of the present study was to identifY the risk factors,

. which influence the transmission . of tuberculosis infection from sputum positive tuberculous patients to their household contacts with special reference to the environmental factors, involved in such transmission.