Quantitative changes in mononuclear phagocytes in lymph nodes and tuberculous granulomas in patients with generalized tuberculosis suggest that accumulation of these cells in granulomas occurs due to their recruiting from bone marrow precursors, rather than from lymph nodes. Antimycobacterial therapy leads to dissociation of granulomas accompanied by accumulation of macrophages in lymph nodes. The number of granulomas decreases, but not their size and relative content of epithelioid cells remain unchanged. With due regard of the microanatomy of granulomas, epithelioid cells are regarded as the main site of mycobacterium persistence and the object of targeted drug delivery.