ABSTRACT
A 1947 article in the Swiss medical journal Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift described tuberculosis among former concentration camp inmates in Eastern Europe (1). A makeshift hospital was established behind the Allied line in the spring of 1945, and 296 evacuated prisoners underwent medical evaluation there. Among them, 151 had tuberculosis: 124 (42%) with active disease and 27 (9%) inactive disease. Only 145 (49%) were disease-free. The authors compared this prevalence of tuberculosis to that detected during a radiological survey of 362,043 citizens of Stuttgart in 1941. The prevalence of active tuberculosis among the justreleased prisoners was 200 times that of the general population of Stuttgart. The prevalence of inactive disease was 14 times greater in the former inmates.
