Treatment outcomes and relapses of pulmonary tuberculosis in Lazio, Italy, 1999-2001: a six-year follow-up study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to enhance tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcome monitoring by linking diverse surveillance systems and estimating treatment outcomes including relapse.

Methods: Tuberculosis treatment was surveyed in the Lazio region (Italy) from 1999 to 2001; a six-year follow-up of notified cases was undertaken to detect relapses. The results were analyzed as a population-based case-control study comparing each unsuccessful outcome and relapse with eligible controls.

[Fatality rates of bacterial meningitis from current health databases suggest a different case definition. Results of a follow-up study of bacterial meningitis in Lazio Region, Italy, 1996-2000].

Objectives: To describe mortality and case fatality rate due to bacterial meningitis in the Lazio Region from 1996 to 2000, and to compare these estimates with those from Cause-of-death Registry (CDR) and Hospital Discharge Registry (HDR).

Methods: A follow-up study of mortality was conducted through Registry Offices for bacterial meningitis cases reported to surveillance in 1996-2000 among residents in the Lazio Region. Death due to bacterial meningitis was defined as a patient who died during a hospitalization for meningitis or who died within 30 days after hospitalization and whose underlying cause of death was bacterial meningitis (ICD-9: 036.