HIV prevalence and risk factors in a Brazilian penitentiary

Abstract

HIV infection among prison inmates shows one of the highest prevalence rates for specific population subgroups, reaching as high as 17% in Brazil and elsewhere in the world. The present study aimed to estimate HIV antibody prevalence and risk factors for infection in male inmates at the Ribeirão Preto Penitentiary, São Paulo State, Brazil, from May to August 2003. Using simple random sampling, 333 participants were selected, answered a standardized questionnaire, and had blood samples collected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence were used for HIV serological diagnosis. Overall HIV prevalence among inmates was 5.7% (95%CI: 3.2-8.2). All variables associated with HIV antibodies in the univariate analysis were submitted to unconditional multivariate logistic regression. Independent predictors of HIV infection were: total prison sentence less than five years and sharing needles and syringes.

HIV Prevalence In Internal From Brazilian Prisons And Its Associated Factors: Integrative Literature Review

“…Studies show high drug use rates among HIV positive internal to which on average had a variation of 71% to 97%, involving alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine and crack. [8,11,15,17] Studies showed the sexual via as the most important route of HIV transmission in the prison environment corroborating data disclosed by the Ministry of Health. [1] In relation to information on sexual exposure, according to the prisoners themselves, on average 66% have heterosexual relationships through conjugal visits and 10% maintain homosexual relations between inmates, 69% reported that their relations with multiple partners.…”

“…It should be noted that this risk of exposure to HIV is assuming over time downward trend, the prevalence be compared found in previously published studies to 2007 (7-13) most current studies (14)(15)(16)(17), when observed drop in detection rates associated with injecting drug use, which can be attributed to the transformation that took place in the scenario of the use of illicit drugs, in which intravenous who were more used up to half of the 90s, currently have lost room for inhaled drugs. Not only in the prison environment, but also outside it, the transmission of HIV experienced a reduction in this type of exposure.…”

“…The rate of HIV infection was higher (26%) among those who reported sex with drug use and 20% among homosexual relations with multiple partners. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Drug use can enhance sexual risk behavior, especially if there is unavailability of condoms at the time of the sexual act.…”

Prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection and associated risk factors among prison inmates in the City of Florianópolis

“…Notably, in countries where this type of study has previously been performed, the rate of HIV infection in prison populations was higher than that found in the general population (8) . This has also been shown to be case in Brazil; studies using the same observational approach as the present study demonstrated that the infection rate in the general population was 0.8% among men (9) , while the rate of HIV infection among the male inmate population ranged from 1.54-5.7% (10) (11) (12) . A similar result was obtained in a study of 333 male inmates at the Penitentiary of Ribeirão Preto, where the prevalence of HIV infection was 5.7% (10) .…”

“…This has also been shown to be case in Brazil; studies using the same observational approach as the present study demonstrated that the infection rate in the general population was 0.8% among men (9) , while the rate of HIV infection among the male inmate population ranged from 1.54-5.7% (10) (11) (12) . A similar result was obtained in a study of 333 male inmates at the Penitentiary of Ribeirão Preto, where the prevalence of HIV infection was 5.7% (10) . Another study of 680 male inmates was conducted in a prison in São Paulo, and the prevalence of HIV infection was 1.8% (11) .…”