Spread of TB in prisons increases the incidence of TB in the general population
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - 18:10
in Health & Medicine
The risk of tuberculosis (TB) and latent TB (in which the bacteria that cause TB lie dormant but can reactivate later to cause active TB disease) is higher in the prison population than in the general population. And importantly, the spread of TB and latent TB within prisons can substantially increase their incidence in the general population. These key findings from a systematic review by Iacopo Baussano from the University "Amedeo Avogadro", Italy, and the Imperial College, London, UK, and colleagues and published in this week's PLoS Medicine, suggest that improvements in prison TB control would not only help to protect prisoners and staff from within-prison spread of TB, but would also reduce national TB burdens.