PREVALENCE OF TUBERCUOSIS IN JAIL

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of tuberculosis in prisoners of jail. Design: Descriptive study. Place and duration of study: Central Jail Bahawalpur, all prisoners who were jailed in prison were included. It comprises prisoners of ten years (from 1999). Patient and Method: The study population comprised of 2552 prisoners, 2540 were males and 12 were females. The important variables included symptoms of patients (cough, fever, hemoptysis), age, duration of stay in jail and radiological features seen on chest X Ray. Data was analyzed on SPSS. Results: There were 2540 males and 12 females. Forty-six patients had tuberculosis (1.80%) with mean age 37 ± 12.07 years and their mean stay in jail was 802 ± 1118 days. Among prisoners diagnosed as tuberculosis 39 (85%) had cough and hemoptysis was present in 10 (21.73%) of tuberculosis patients along with cough. Chest X Ray showed 22 (48%) had cavitations and bronchiectasis on chest x ray. Upper lobe alveolar infiltrates were found in 19 (41%) of cases while pleural effusion was present in 5 (11%) of tuberculosis patients. Conclusions: The study revealed that tuberculosis exists in jail of South Punjab Pakistan thus represents an important screening site for TB.