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Prisons are hot spot for avian flu outbreak
Respiratory Care Weekly, September 27, 2006
Prisons would provide avian flu a dangerous, fertile breeding ground if an outbreak were to occur, according to research presented September 15 at the Correctional Medicine Institute's 2006 Conference in Baltimore. Measures should be taken now to guard against avian flu's spread among this vulnerable population, according to researchers. They cite evidence that prisons are an avian flu "ticking time bomb" due to increased rates of HIV, drug-resistant tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and other diseases currently affecting prison populations. Researchers also concluded there's a lack of adequate planning for an avian flu outbreak among correctional officials they interviewed.
"There's a real failure to recognize how important the health status of inmates is to the public health of all of us," says Rachel Schwartz, PhD, a researcher at the Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. "Nearly 85% of those in jails and prisons will be released within a year. So even if we as a society don't think protecting them from disease is a priority, prisoners released into the general population pose a real threat to society."
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