[Estimation of the degree of risk of reactivation of residual tuberculous changes based on the status of mycobacterial population].

The study was undertaken to define the role of L-forms of M. tuberculosis having different qualitative and ++quantitative characteristics in the development of recurrences of a tuberculosis process in subjects with residual tuberculous changes in the lungs. The microbiological and ++clinico-roentgenological+ examination included 2412 subjects who were in VIIA and VIIB Dispensary Groups. These subjects were found to have a considerable reservoir of tuberculosis infection: the causative agent of tuberculosis in the bacterial and L-forms was detected in 214 (9%) of the examinees. Detection of M. tuberculosis L-forms tended to reversion in a pathological material of subjects with residual tuberculous changes in the lungs is a major predictors of high potential risk of tuberculosis process reactivation.