Prevalence of Tuberculosis Infection in a Rural Substance Abuse Clinic and Correctional Facility

Abstract

In Bradford County (population 69,000), in northern Pennsylvania, we tested 26 subjects at a correctional facility and 35 subjects at a substance abuse clinic to determine the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) infection in a rural high-risk setting and to see how it differed from prevalence in an urban high risk setting. In addition to PPD testing, data were collected on each subject’s race, gender, and risk factors for tuberculosis disease. Of the subjects who returned for a recheck at the correctional facility, 8.0% of them tested positive for infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. None of the subjects from the substance abuse clinic tested positive. These prevalence rates were considerably lower than those found in urban studies performed in similar high-risk settings; however, significant differences in racial stratification and HIV prevalence were also observed between the two populations, thus possibly affecting rates of TB infection.1-5