I came across the following sentence in a Russian text:
Диссеминированный туберкулез легких в фазе инфильтрации, МБТ (-) IА
I translated it as:
Disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis at the infiltration stage, Mtb(-), I-A
The matter is, the I-A stands for Group 1 (confirmed active TB in this patient), subtype A (first occurrence of TB in this patient).
This is a classification system used in Russia for TB patients, who are required to register at a clinic in order to be tracked and cured. ("Диспансерные группы больных туберкулезом")
For instance, 1-Б (Cyrillic for 1-B) would mean "Confirmed active TB in this patient; reccurrent case", and 2-B would mean "Chronically ill TB patient; uncurable case".
Is there a similar code system for classification of TB patients in the West?
If no, I'd probably have to write (Russian classification system) in parentheses after I-A to make it clearer to the reader. I found that in one Russian-to-English translation they explain the thing as "dispensary registry group":
"Dispensary" is a crude direct translation of Russian "Диспансер" (Dispanser), a treatment center specializing on this or that disease.
