Acta Morphologica 4. Supplementum (1954)
Proceedings of the annual meeting of Hungarian Pathologists and Anatomists. Budapest, 1954. The Pathology of the Tuberculosis
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF HUNGARIAN PATHOLOGISTS AND ANATOMISTS Budapest, 1954 PLENARY SESSION The Pathology of the Tuberculosis RELATOR : I. Földes (State Tuberculosis Institute, Budapest) Problems of Tuberculosis Pathology During the last years, much progress has been made in the field of prevention and therapy of tuberculosis (serial examination of the population •with fluorography compulsory BCG vaccination, invention of efficient antibiotic and antituberculous drugs, development of lung surgery, etc). Our economical development has, -with the assistance of the government aiming at the building-up of socialism, rendered possible that the progress of science and an enlightment work carried out on a large scale have resulted in the decrease of tuberculosis lethality by 73 per cent, as compared with 1938. The lethality of tuberculosis has, beside its decrease, exhibited a shift towards the older age groups. Whereas in 1938 only 19 per cent of the people who died of tuberculosis were over 50 years of age, their percentage was in 1953 46, nearly half of all cases. This immense development, and the pavlovian physiology gradually spreading into all branches of medicine, have brought about a qualitative change in our conceptions regarding the pathology of tuberculosis, and have significantly enriched our knowledge about that disease. This review will deal with three main items ; viz. 1. The classification of tuberculosis, 2. the problem of reinfection, 3. some problems of tuberculous allergy and immunity. 1 The milestones in the classification of tuberculosis are the classifications of Turban—Gerhardt, Bard—Piéry, Albrecht—Fraenkel, Aschoff—Nicol, Abrikossov,