[The significance of speaking for the transfer of bacteria, and of the tuberculin skin test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (author's transl)].
A Korean nurse was employed in Germany after having passed the routine medical checkup without discovery of apparent disease. Five months later she fell ill with fever due to pneumonia. Work was suspended for 8 days and then continued in an infants' ward for another 8 weeks. Because of increasing weakness the nurse was reexamined medically. This revealed an open Tuberculosis of the lung. The sputum culture was positive. The following treatment was successfull. No infant or other person with previous contact to the nurse contracted tuberculosis. The explanation for this is presumably given by the virtual speechlessness of the foreign nurse. --The importance of the tuberculin skin test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis is discussed with regard to the declining incidence of new infections, and practicability of mass screening for this disease.
D005260:Female; D005860:Germany, West; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D008403:Mass Screening; D013060:Speech; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000592:standards; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000635:transmission*
Zur Bedeutung des Sprechens für die Bakterienübertragung und der Tuberkulinprobe für die Tuberkuloseerkennung