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1st
appeared 24 March 1999
Tuberculosis in Prisons Impacts Not Only
Inmates, but also Communities
Research shows that worldwide more people are dying of
tuberculosis than ever before and that TB remains the biggest killer of young women. It is
also accounts for one-third of all AIDS deaths worldwide.
To help focus public attention on this disease which daily claims the lives of 8,000
people, today (March 24) is recognized as World TB Day. As part of this event, a two-day
training course for health care staff in California state prisons and local health
departments is being held at the Piccadilly Inn in Fresno.
Studies show that correctional facilities, many of which are located in the San Joaquin
Valley, are high-risk settings for tuberculosis transmission and present a public health
problem for correctional facility employees, inmates and their visitors, as well as the
communities to which inmates are released and where employees live and work.
The course is presented by the Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center, a joint
project of UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health; the Pacific AIDS
Education and Training Center; and the California Department of Health Services in
collaboration with the California Department of Corrections.
According to course sponsors, correctional facilities are high-risk settings as a result
of close living conditions. They house inmates who are likely to have one or more of the
following risk factors for TB: substance and alcohol abuse, a history of homelessness,
high rates of HIV infection and poverty. Issues such as overcrowding and ventilation,
which are a concern in some correctional facilities, also facilitate the spread of TB.
According to US Bureau of Justice statistics, about 1.8 million people are currently
incarcerated in jails or prisons in the US. Prison populations have doubled in the last
decade and are predicted to grow eight percent a year for the next several years.
The increase in inmates and correctional facilities is mirrored by the increase in the
number of people who work in these institutions, estimated at 32 percent between 1990 and
1995, the bureau said.
Source: Joe Rosato, News Services |
