Clinical Manifestation of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in one Prison of the Northeast

Abstract

This cross‐sectional descriptive study aimed to examine clinical signs and
symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis infection of prisoners, and related factors.
Altogether 1,440 prisoners were Investigated in one prison in the Northeast during
28‐30 Jan 2009. For investigating pulmonary tuberculosis infection all of the 1,440
prisoners were examined for Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the Acid Fast Bacilli
testing (AFB) and 1,420 were interviewed by the WHO‐2009 tuberculosis screening
questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyses and describe clinical
signs and symptoms. A multiple logistic regression was applied for the analyses of
identifying factors related to pulmonary tuberculosis infection. Clinical sign and
symptoms were found among prisoners included sputum (23.31%), weight loss
(15.7%), chest pain (12.32%) and a chronic cough (12.25%) for more than two
weeks. The multiple logistic regression analyses revealed a significant increase in
the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis infection of prisoners who were having chest
pain (ORadj = 14.82, 95% CI = 4.40‐49.97), and a BMI ≤ 20 (ORadj = 3.26, 95% CI =
1.01‐10.48). In conclusion, the clinical signs and symptoms that significantly
affected tuberculosis in prison were chest pain and lower BMI. Pulmonary
tuberculosis screening is extremely important for prisoners with these two
symptoms. They should be exposed to a clinical diagnosis for tuberculosis and being
treated as soon as possible to limit the spread of the disease among other inmates.