The records of autopsies performed during the last year were examined with the view of assessing the accuracy of the diagnosis: death from tuberculosis. The study showed that the infection was only rarely the cause of death. Subsequently, in collaboration with R. Gruber, the deaths reported by the Study Group, Bavaria, were analysed. Over a period of two years there were 302 deaths in which tuberculosis was either the primary or a complicating disease. The analysis shows how important it is to establish the correct diagnosis and to ensure that in deaths attributed to tuberculosis the infection is, in fact, the sole cause of death and not a complicating factor.