Chile's tuberculosis morbidity notification statistics suggest that there has been a 3% average annual decrease in tuberculosis cases in the last 5 years (1978-82). In addition, over the period 1974-83, there was a 50% decline in the number of deaths from tuberculosis. In 1982, there were 6941 recorded cases of tuberculosis in Chile, only 6.5% of which involved children under 15 years of age; in that same year, there were 984 deaths from tuberculosis, 14.4% of which occurred in children. The majority of cases reported (78%) involve pulmonary tuberculosis. Over 90% of children under 15 years of age are covered by Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination. This was achieved by immunizing 91% of all newborns, 83% of children in their first year of school, and 98% of those in their final year. Laboratories capable of case-finding now cover 95% of Chile's total area. Since 1975, an average of 47 bacilloscopies have been performed per 1000 consultations. Abandonment of treatment has been reduced to 12% and fewer than 20% of cases require hospitalization. Finally, the introduction of shortened rifampicin treatment has reduced the case-fatality rate from 6% to 3%.
Post-treatment observation of two years' duration has confirmed preliminary data which indicated that a single injection of 2.5 million units of benzathine penicillin G, in early infectious syphilis, produces results equal, if not superior, to those obtained with schedules employing 4.8 million units of procaine penicillin and aluminium monostearate.Preliminary data suggest that a single injection of 2.4 or 2.5 million units of benzathine penicillin G may be inadequate for the treatment of asymptomatic neurosyphilis.Delayed reactions do not appear to be induced by the long-sustained blood-levels following the administration of benzathine penicillin G.Repeated injections of PAM increase the risk of reaction to treatment.
