SETT ING S:Twenty-seven prisons in Thailand.
OBJ ECT IVE S:To m easure the prevalenc e of sm ear-
positive tuberculosis (TB) and to compare its detection
using the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines
for prisons or the International Standards for Tubercu-
losis Care (ISTC) criteria.
METHO D: P risoners who were not on TB medications and
who had not been treated for TB in the previous 6 months
were enrolled in the survey. Prison nurses conducted a
one-time mass screening using the WHO questionnaire,
with follow-up sputum collection in TB suspects.
RESULTS: Of 71594 prisoners, 22132 (30.9%) were
identiÞed as TB suspects, and 254 were conÞrmed by