References

The drive to detect cases of tuberculosis in the community stems from clinical, preventive and scientific medicine. The importance assigned to various aspects of tuberculosis work may sometimes differ, but all three types of worker are agreed about the final goal—the detection of all the cases. In the early part of this century, such a general approach to the subject was prevented by overwhelming technical difficulties. The ' lack of an accurate, cheap method of diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis prevented large-scale surveys. At this stage the organi7Rtion of the dispensary, where the sick were diagnosed and contacts examined, was the only step that could be taken. It was, and still is, a very effective technique—particularly when reinforced by modern x-ray diagnostic methods—but alone it can never detect all the cases. A few decades later, an object lesson in the importance o