[Prevention of tuberculosis in patients in psychiatric hospitals].

Mental hospital patients are at high risk of tuberculosis reactivation, especially those with posttuberculous changes in the lungs and progressive severe schizophrenia. Outbreaks of tuberculosis are 2.5 times more frequent in them than in alcohol abusers and other mental patients. In subjects with posttuberculous changes on the lungs preventive chemotherapy can cause a 6-fold decrease in the likelihood of process reactivation.