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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

An Experimental Model to Study Tuberculosis-Malaria Coinfection upon Natural Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Plasmodium berghei
Published on: February 17, 2014
Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a California State Prison, 1991
D T Koo1, R C Baron, G W Rutherford
1Division of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Objectives:
An investigation was conducted to determine whether ongoing transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was occurring in a California state prison.
Method:
Prison pharmacy records were used to identify cases of active tuberculosis (TB).
Results:
Ten of the 18 cases of active TB treated at the facility during 1991 were diagnosed at the prison that same year (an incidence of 184 per 100,000). Three inmates were infectious for a total of 7 months while imprisoned. The prevalence of TB skin test-positivity among inmates was 30%, and the incidence of new infection attributable to incarceration was 5.9 per 100 inmates per year.
Conclusions:
Transmission of M. tuberculosis may be occurring in the California prison system.
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