Abstract: Objective To describe mode of tuberculosis case-finding in Cangshan county of Shandong province and explore Methods to improve tuberculosis case-finding.  Methods The data of tuberculosis reporting during 2003—2007 in Cangshan county were obtained from the National Internet-based Reporting System of Notifiable Infectious Disease. Information of TB register of Cangshan tuberculosis Dispensary was also collected. χ² test was applied in the data analysis.  Results Of tuberculosis patients registered in Cangshan county, 1434(45.5%) directly visited tuberculosis dispensary, while 1326（42.1%）, 250(7.9%), 83（2.6%）and 58（1.8%) were detected by referral, routine recommendation, tracing and concentrated recommendation respectively. The proportion of tuberculosis suspects diagnosed as tuberculosis patients varied between different ways: for referral patients, the proportion was the greatest 54.8%; of the patients directly visiting TB dispensary, 11.4% were diagnosed as TB; only 1.8% of tuberculosis suspects visiting TB dispensary through concentrated recommendation were diagnosed as TB, which was the least. County-level health facilities were the main source of suspected TB patients referred to TB Dispensary.  Conclusion  Most tuberculosis patients were detected through referral and lower level recommendation. Another important source is patient’ self-visit. Future work should focus on to strengthen the construction of three level tuberculosis control network, and strengthen the awareness of referral and recommendation by medical staff; to strengthen public health education and improve potential of actively seeking medical treatment by suspected cases; Take the initiative to carry out screening in selected high-risk populations.

Key words: tuberculosis,pulmonary/prevention and control, Shandong province