VERCELLI, Italy, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The spread of tuberculosis in prisons increases the incidence of tuberculosis in the general population, researchers in Italy and Britain say.
Iacopo Baussano of the University Amedeo Avogadro in Italy and the Imperial College London and colleagues suggest improvements in prison TB control would not only help to protect prisoners and staff, it would help reduce national TB burdens.
Using data from previous studies and the World Health Organization, the study authors calculated the ratio between the incidence rates for TB and latent TB in prison and in the general population.
The average incidence of TB in prisons was 23 times higher than that of the general population, and for latent TB, was 26 times higher in prisons than in the general population.
The authors estimated the fraction of TB in the general population attributable to within-prison exposure to TB and found that, on average, one in 11 cases of TB in the general population was attributable to within-prison spread of TB.
"These data may prove useful to inform the development of rational policies to control TB transmission in correctional facilities," the study authors say in a statement. "Future studies should assess the population attributable risk of prison-to-community spread and describe the conditions in the prison that influence TB transmission."
The findings are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
