Abstract
An epidemiologic survey of cutaneous tuberculosis was carried out for the cases that were treated between 1947 and 2006 in the Department of Dermatology of Nippon Medical School Hospital. The total number of cutaneous tuberculosis patients decreased markedly after the early 1960s, increased slightly after 1967, and maintained a plateau from 1987 to 2006. The number of true cutaneous tuberculosis patients decreased after the early 1960s and then plateaued from 1967 to 1996. It slightly decreased from 1997 to 2006; however, scrofuloderma was also observed once every 1 or 2 years during the last 20 years. The number of tuberculid patients also decreased after the early 1960s but increased after 1967. The number of patients with erythema induratum Bazin continued to increase gradually after 1967. The main reasons for the increase in the total number of cutaneous tuberculosis patients in the last 20 years are the continuous occurrence of scrofuloderma and the increase in the number of patients with erythema induratum Bazin, both of which reflect the present conditions for the spread of tuberculosis in Japan.
