Feds Urge Steps to Curb Rising TB Rate Behind Bars
The tuberculosis rate in U.S. prisons may be more than three times higher than on the outside, federal health officials said Thursday, urging testing, isolation and other measures to curb TB behind bars. Researchers with the Centers for Disease Control cited a survey in 29 states, where prisons reported 31 tuberculosis cases per 100,000 inmates in 1984-85, compared with eight cases per 100,000 reported among non-incarcerated adults in those states during the same period. ``In some large correctional systems, the incidence of TB has increased dramatically,'' the CDC said, noting that in New York state there were 106 TB cases per 100,000 inmates in 1986 _ seven times more than the average of 15 cases reported in 1976-78. In New Jersey, inmates had a TB rate of 110 per 100,000 in 1987, 11 times higher than the general New Jersey population. In California, the rate was nearly six times higher _ 80 per 100,000. Tuberculosis, a contagious, bacterial lung disease, occurs in about 22,000 new cases each year in the United States; most can be cured with drug treatment. As many as 7 percent of Americans have latent TB infections, and about 10 percent of them will someday develop a case of tuberculosis itself. ``Persons at highest risk ... are close contacts,'' the CDC said, noting that TB can pose particular problems in prisons, where there is often overcrowding and ``where the environment is often conducive to airborne transmission of infection among inmates, staff and visitors.'' The CDC's Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis is recommending TB testing for most new prison inmates and staff members _ with the possible exception of inmates just transferring through for less than a week. The CDC committee also recommends new tests at least once a year, rapid chest X-rays for TB-infected people showing symptoms, and isolation _ off the prison property, if necessary _ for those with suspected or confirmed symptomatic TB cases. The spread of AIDS-virus infections may play a part in the spread of TB in prisons, the CDC said. AIDS weakens the immune system, making patients susceptible to infections other people might ward off, including tuberculosis. AIDS tests should be offered to all inmates with known TB infections, the CDC report said.
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