title: Infectious diseases among foreign prisoners: results of a hospital-based management model in Palermo.
abstract: Foreign prisoners have a high vulnerability in terms of morbidity and access to care in overcrowded Italian prisons. This paper presents and comments on the management model of infectious diseases in foreign prisoners at our outpatient clinic, in order to describe a model of management for these conditions. Overall, 133 subjects (mean age 35.5 years) from 29 countries were followed for a period of 15 years. The most commonly represented area of origin (54.1%) was the Maghreb region. HCV infection (40.6%), HIV (22.5%), HBV (9.8%) and co-infection (15%, HIV/HCV or HIV/HBV) were observed. Ten subjects had tuberculosis, and only 30% of them were compliant with the treatment. Only 46.3% of HCV mono-infected patients completed the entire diagnostic process and even a lower percentage (37%) of them took treatment regularly. 90% of HBV mono-infected patients and 84% of those HIV mono- and co-infected completed the diagnostic workout. 77% of patients in each group took therapy regularly. Overall, the results show limited effectiveness. Therefore, it would be necessary to improve communication between healthcare professionals and correctional systems. Moreover, it appears urgent to reduce overcrowding in prisons to limit morbidity in prisoners.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Tullio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Prestileo
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spicola
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Lorenzo
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Ernesto Renato
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Dalle Nogare
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanfilippo
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ficalora
authors.affiliation: Unit of Infectious Diseases and Medicine of Migrant and Vulnerable Populations, National Relevance Hospital Trust (ARNAS), Civico-Benfratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corrao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060085:Coinfection / Q000453:epidemiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011330:Prisons; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012802:Sicily / Q000453:epidemiology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology