[Tuberculosis in Russia in the late 20th century].

The present tuberculosis epidemic situation in Russia is marked by an increasing role of exogenous infection. The peak deteriorated epidemic situation was observed in 1993 and 1999. There was a considerable deterioration of the epidemic situation in 1999 due to the economic crisis in August 1998, which caused a drastic fall in living conditions. Trends for an epidemic process changed in the 1990s. Spread of tuberculous infection occurs by the same mechanisms as did in the early 20th century. The official incidence of tuberculosis does not completely reflect actual morbidity (nearly by 15%) due to the fact that patients with tuberculosis have not been detected.