Shaheena Manzoor, Zarfishan Tahir, Aftab Anjum.
Prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis among jail inmates in Lahore - Pakistan.
Biomedica Jan ;25(1):36-41.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis. Using sputum smear examination for AFB screening and double PCR for HIV among jail inmates of Camp Jail, Lahore. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study and was carried out in district Camp Jail, Lahore, during the period between Jan 2007 to June 2008. The study population comprised of 3851 prisoners, all were males. Data was collected by administering closed-ended questionnaire. Sputum and blood samples were collected from symptomatic prisoners in standardised sputum containers and vials respectively. Majority of respondents (73.6%) were of urban background and most of these respondents (46.4%) were illiterate. Majority (36.8%) were factory workers before being locked up in the jail. The prevalence of smoking and drug/ alcohol abuse was 63.1% and 37.9% respectively. One hundred and thirty seven respondents (52.2%) had cough. Lab tests on serum done on jail inmates showed that 6 of 261 respondents (2.3%) were HIV positive. However none of the jail inmates was sputum smears positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The study found clustering of risk factors among jail inmates which are conducive to the transmission of STIs, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. This study revealed that 6 of 261 jail inmates were seropositive for HIV.

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