Tuberculosis is a severe respiratory disease
For years, tuberculosis had been causing thousands of deaths all over the world, as people had no chance to find the cure. However, nowadays, tuberculosis (TB), still being a severe respiratory disease, can be controlled by taking the prescribed medication chosen individually for the patient (CDC, 2016). Prisons, being some of the most beneficial environments for TB spreading, are to make sure that every inmate, correction officer, and guard are properly diagnosed on the subject of obtaining any communicative disease.
Dramatic disease rate in prisons
However, the provided case study shows that there were still examples when the signs of respiratory disease failed to be noticed in time, putting the lives of many inmates at stake. It is widely accepted that the overall conditions in the US correction facilities, along with the background lifestyles of some inmates, lead to a dramatic disease rate in cells (Coll, 2019). As a result of a long-term opioid epidemic taking place in the US, many prison inmates are HIV/AIDS positive, which interferes with their immune system (WHO, 2020). Hence, the risk of obtaining a disease like drug-resistant TB is considerably high.
Solution of the issue
As a local health officer, my major concern is to make sure that as many people involved in the situation as possible are safe. To begin with, the issue must be handled on the level of prison staff. It is understandable why guards refuse to work in prison infected by multiple drug-resistant TB because the risk of becoming an infection host is considerably high. However, they need to understand that a whole region will be under threat, and there is little chance the outbreak could be handled within a facility.
As a primary risk group, prison staff should be fully informed of the scope of the issue so they could realize the necessity to restrain from alcohol intake for the sake of the community. Moreover, corrections officers deal with the risk of being injured every time they start their shift. Cases like “The Lucasville Five” take place on a relatively regular basis, so these employees should be the ones who are not afraid to take responsibility for the community’s welfare (Kelkar, 2017). Moreover, I would make sure to exploit media attention in ways that benefit the community rather than securing the national reputation so that everyone could be aware and ready to act.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2016).Basic TB facts. Web.
Coll, S. (2019). The jail healthcare crisis. Web.
Kelkar, K. (2017). Man on death row punished after appearing in Netflix show ‘Captive.’ Web.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). HIV in prisons. Web.