Abstract:
Background: People concentrated in congregated systems, such as prisons, are important but
often neglected reservoirs for TB transmission, and threaten those in the outside community.
Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to determine the prevalence of pulmonary
tuberculosis and identify associated factors among prisoners in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed on 302 study participants to assess the
prevalence and identify associated factors of pulmonary tuberculosis among prisoners in Wolaita
Zone, Southern Ethiopia, from March01/2015 to April 01/2015. Prisoners were included in the
study because they had cough for more than or equal to two weeks during the study period.
Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Sputum sample was collected from suspected inmates and examined using sputum smear
microscopy. Bivariate and multivariable binary Logistic regression was used to identify
predictors of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Result: A total of 302 prisoners were included in the study. Among those, 15 (4.97%) prisoners
were found to have TB giving a point prevalence of 497 per 100,000 populations of pulmonary
TB among the study participants. Pulmonary tuberculosis was significantly associated with
cigarette smoking (AOR=5.42, 95%CI= (1.21, 24.25), having history of contact with known TB
patients at home (AOR=7.01, 95%CI= (1.54, 31.90), Sharing a room with a known TB patient
(AOR=7.09, 95%CI= (1.59, 31.64), stay greater than 24 months in current prison (AOR=0.09,
95%CI= (0.02,0.47).and BMI˂18.5kg/m2 ((AOR=5.35,95%CI=(1.01,28.22)
Conclusions and recommendation: There was high prevalence of TB among Prisoners in
Wolaita Zone with possible active transmission of TB within the prison than general community.
Strengthening of tuberculosis screening during entrance to prison inorder to control rapid
transmission within prison
