Managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases in prisons: a systematic review
BMJ Global Health·
- DOI
- 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003201
- PMID
- 33199278
- PMCID
- PMC7670855
- OpenAlex
- W3035659468
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The article is relevant to outbreak preparedness and response in correctional settings. It also frames COVID-19 in prisons as an area where a public health approach is needed, based on the reviewed literature.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The review asked what the available literature shows about managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases in prisons, including which interventions and containment approaches have been reported.
Study design
Systematic review of peer-reviewed articles and official reports published from 2000 to July 2020. It synthesized quantitative primary studies describing outbreaks in correctional facilities and the effects of interventions.
Population and setting
Outbreaks in prison or other correctional-facility settings, with the included reports all coming from high-income countries. The reviewed outbreaks involved tuberculosis, influenza A and B, varicella, measles, mumps, adenovirus, and COVID-19.
Main findings
The review identified 28 relevant studies. It reported recurring themes such as interagency collaboration, health communication, screening, restriction, isolation, quarantine, contact tracing, immunisation, epidemiological surveillance, and prison-specific guidance in outbreak response, and it characterized prisons as challenging, high-risk environments for infectious-disease spread.
Public-health relevance
The article is relevant to outbreak preparedness and response in correctional settings. It also frames COVID-19 in prisons as an area where a public health approach is needed, based on the reviewed literature.
Important limitations
The summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata, so it cannot capture details that may appear in the full paper. The abstract also indicates that the included evidence came only from high-income countries, which limits breadth of scope.
GIDS interpretation
For discoverability, this paper is indexed as a systematic review touching outbreak investigation, surveillance, transmission dynamics, and vaccination across several infectious diseases. This is contextual indexing only and does not establish any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 10 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.