Management of Pulmonary Tuberculosis during Pregnancy

Frotni Hatninersinith C/lest Clittic and tile Postgraduate Medicatl Scliool of Lotnldon It was long held that the first trimester of pregnancy and the immediate post-partum period were particularly dangerous times in the life of a woman with tuberculosis.Review of the literature of recent years, however, shows that there have been numerous papers which failed to support this view.On the contrary, although statistical proof is lacking, most authors claim that pregnancy has little detrimental effect on the tuberculosis.This conclusion was common in the literature even before the chemotherapy era (Cohen, 1946; Friedman and Garber, 1946; Stewart and Simmonds, 1947).If the mass of evidence failed to prove the harmful- ness of pregnancy before the advent of chemotherapy, how much safer must pregnancy be in the tuberculous woman to-day.This is fully endorsed by many authors