Surveillance of tuberculosis in Europe in 1996

A European tuberculosis surveillance programme, the EuroTB programme, was s et up in 1996 to collect, analyze and circulate epidemiological data on tub erculosis in the 51 countries belonging to the European sector of the WHO. The 1996 data covered all these countries, except for Turkey, and revealed a marked heterogeneity regarding the epidemiology of tuberculosis in Europe (with a range of 0-195 declared cases per 100,000 inhabitants). The situat ion is alarming in 27 Eastern European countries,Spain and Portugal (declar ation rates higher than 20 per 100,000 inhabitants). The increase in povert y, dysfunction of health systems and deterioration of antituberculosis prog rammes are responsible for the marked increase in the incidence of this dis ease in some Eastern Europe countries.