Increase in Tuberculosis Cases among Prisoners, Brazil, 2009-20141

Abstract

During 2009-2014, incarceration rates in Brazil rose 34%, and tuberculosis (TB) cases among prisoners rose 28.8%. The proportion of national TB cases that occurred among prisoners increased from 6.2% to 8.4% overall and from 19.3% to 25.6% among men 20-29 years of age.

Keywords: Brazil; Mycobacterium; TB; bacteria; prisoners; prisons; tuberculosis; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

Figure 1

Proportion of tuberculosis (TB) cases among prisoners in Brazil, 2009–2014. A) Geographic distribution by state of the proportions of all TB cases diagnosed among male prisoners ages 20–29. Prisoners comprised 0–47.7% of all TB cases in this age group, with highest rates at the western border of Brazil. B) Sex and age distribution of the proportions of all notified TB cases diagnosed among prisoners in Brazil for 2009 compared with 2014. Prisoners of both sexes represent an increasingly disproportionate percentage of notified cases in all age groups, and male prisoners 20–29 of age represented >25% of cases among the age group in 2014. AC, Acre; AL, Alagoas; AP, Amapá; AM, Amazonas; BA, Bahia; CE, Ceará; DF, Distrito Federal; ES, Espírito Santo; GO, Goiás; MA, Maranhão; MT, Mato Grosso; MS, Mato Grosso do Sul; MG, Minas Gerais; PR, Paraná; PB, Paraíba; PA, Pará; PE, Pernambuco; PI, Piauí; RJ, Rio de Janeiro; RN, Rio Grande do Norte; RS, Rio Grande do Sul; RO, Rondônia; RR, Roraima; SC, Santa Catarina; SE, Sergipe; SP, São Paulo; TO, Tocantins.

Figure 2

Temporal distribution of incarceration rates (prisoners/100,000 population) and TB notification rates (cases/100,000 prisoners), by sex, Brazil, 2009–2014. There was an appreciable increase in incarceration rates among men (30.2%) and women (50.0%) from 2009 to 2014. Although the incarceration rate of men averaged >15 times that of women, the average TB notification rate for women was higher (1,703 vs. 1,281/100,000 prisoners). TB, tuberculosis. AC, Acre; AL, Alagoas; AP, Amapá; AM, Amazonas; BA, Bahia; CE, Ceará; DF, Distrito Federal; ES, Espírito Santo; GO, Goiás; MA, Maranhão; MT, Mato Grosso; MS, Mato Grosso do Sul; MG, Minas Gerais; PR, Paraná; PB, Paraíba; PA, Pará; PE, Pernambuco; PI, Piauí; RJ, Rio de Janeiro; RN, Rio Grande do Norte; RS, Rio Grande do Sul; RO, Rondônia; RR, Roraima; SC, Santa Catarina; SE, Sergipe; SP, São Paulo; TO, Tocantins.