Background: How useful is active case-finding for the controlling of tuberculosis (TB) in Lower Franconia? What treatment outcome is being achieved and which factors reduce this success?
Methods: All 867 TB cases reported to the public health departments in Lower Franconia between 1995 and 2001 were used as anonymous data for a prospective study.
Results: Average age, gender, country of origin and rates of bacterial resistance of the patients coincided to a large degree with the data of the DZK study. The percentage of resettlers from the former Soviet Union with TB was, however, almost double.