|
 
 |
| LETTERS TO EDITOR |
|
| Year : 2019 | Volume
: 33
| Issue : 1 | Page : 66 |
|
Summary of clinical characteristics of prisoners in Thailand with tuberculosis
Pathum Sookaromdee1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1 TWS Medical Center, Bangkok, Thailand
2 1Department of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia
| Date of Web Publication | 14-Oct-2019 |
Correspondence Address:
Pathum Sookaromdee
Medical Center, Bangkok
Thailand
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jms.jms_96_18
How to cite this article:
Sookaromdee P, Wiwanitkit V. Summary of clinical characteristics of prisoners in Thailand with tuberculosis. J Med Soc 2019;33:66 |
Sir,
Tuberculosis is a common infectious disease in several countries at present. In developing countries, such as those in Indochina, a high prevalence of tuberculosis, including drug resistant type, is reported.[1] There are some specific vulnerable groups for tuberculosis infection such as HIV-infected patients, migrants, and prisoners. Focusing on prisoners, there is a chance of HIV co-infection with tuberculosis that results in difficulty in clinical management.[2] In Thailand, prisoners also constitute an important group of at-risk population to acquire tuberculosis. There are some previous reports on Thai prisoners with tuberculosis.[3],[4] Here, the authors perform a summary of clinical characteristics of prisoners in Thailand with tuberculosis. According to the available data, there are 512 prisoners with tuberculosis (average age: 38.3 years). Of these 512 cases, there are 328 new cases (64.1%) and 184 relapse cases (35.9%). There are 443 pulmonary tuberculosis cases (86.5%) and 69 extrapulmonary tuberculosis cases (13.5%). There are 100 cases with HIV co-infection (19.5%). All cases with HIV co-infection get antiretroviral drug therapy. For tuberculosis management, the standard tuberculosis therapy is given for each infected prisoner. Considering the outcome, success rate had been derived in 316 cases (61.7%). Thirty patients died (5.8%). There are nine drug-resistant cases (1.8%). Of interest, in our setting, the success rate of treatment is lower than that in a previous report from Macedonia.[5]
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Panda S, Swaminathan S, Hyder KA, Christophel EM, Pendse RN, Sreenivas AN, et al. Drug resistance in malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV in South East Asia: Biology, programme, and policy considerations. BMJ 2017;358:j3545.  |
| 2. | Melese A, Demelash H. The prevalence of tuberculosis among prisoners in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies. Arch Public Health 2017;75:37. |
| 3. | Srisuphanthavorn M, Wongwai C, Chayatub B, Ratanathanarerk P, Namwong W. Tuberculosis in Bang Kwang prison in the era of antiretroviral therapy. Thai AIDS J 2007;19:63-72. |
| 4. | Wiriyaprasobchok A, Ngamvithayapong-Yanai J, Wongyai J, Nedsuwan S. Characteristics and treatment outcome of prisoner and general tuberculosis patients in Mueang district, Chiang Rai province, Thailand. J Health Syst Res (Thai) 2017;11:277-85. |
| 5. | Ilievska-Poposka B, Zakoska M, Pilovska-Spasovska K, Simonovska L, Mitreski V. Tuberculosis in the prisons in the republic of Macedonia, 2008-2017. Open Access Maced J Med Sci 2018;6:1300-4. |
|
Search Pubmed for