title: Prevalence of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis among prisoners in Malawi: a national survey.
abstract: A cross-sectional cell-to-cell survey was conducted in 18 of 22 prisons in Malawi to determine the period prevalence of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). In each prison, prisoners were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Prisoners with cough of >1 week's duration were investigated by sputum smear examination. Of 7661 prisoners, 3887 had cough of > or =1 week, of whom 3794 submitted three sputum specimens: 54 (0.7%) had smear-positive PTB. The prevalence of PTB was higher in large urban prisons (1.1%) than in district prisons (0.3%, P < 0.001). More needs to be done to improve TB control in urban prisons.
authors.affiliation: National Tuberculosis Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Lilongwe, Malawi. hastings@reachtrust.org
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Banda
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gausi
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harries
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Salaniponi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003371:Cough / Q000382:microbiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners; D012423:Rural Health; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult