Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on incarceration and tuberculosis

Abstract

Although preventable and curable, 10·8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis and 1·25 million people died from tuberculosis in 2023.¹ It is a disease that disproportionately affects marginalised groups—for instance, it has been clearly shown that there is a high tuberculosis incidence and low case detection rate in prison populations globally.² Indeed, WHO has identified incarcerated people as an important population who should be prioritised for tuberculosis control efforts.³ However, although data show an adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the years of progress tackling tuberculosis at global, regional, and country levels,⁴ there has been a paucity of data investigating the effect on specific marginalised populations. Amy Zheng and colleagues’ study,⁴ which examined annual trends in incarceration rates and tuberculosis notifications among incarcerated people in Europe and the Americas before (pre-2020) and during (2020–22) the COVID-19 pandemic, is therefore an important contribution to the understanding of disease control in prisons during the pandemic.