Drug-Resistant TB Strain Kills 12 in N.Y. Prisons; Spread Feared

A new drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis has killed 12 New York state prisoners and one guard and has the potential for an “explosive” spread through the prison population, officials said Friday.

The prisoners and the guard all had “compromised immune systems,” a Department of Correctional Services statement said.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the inmates were all infected with the virus that causes AIDS, and that the guard had cancer.

Four inmates from the Auburn state prison in central New York died at the University Hospital of the Health Science Center in Syracuse, and eight from New York City’s Queensboro state prison died at St. Clare’s Hospital there.

The guard who died was also from Auburn and was assigned to watch the inmates being treated in Syracuse, said state Corrections Commissioner Thomas Coughlin.

The Syracuse hospital reported Friday that 52 of its workers had tested positive for the TB virus but none had developed the disease.

“My concern is not only the 28,000 employees of this department, but their families and their communities. I am also concerned for the health of the 60,000 inmates, their visitors, their families and their communities,” Coughlin said.

The TB strain was confirmed in the prison system in September, Coughlin said. The 13 deaths occurred over the past year. The guard died last month.

While the drug-resistant TB is stubborn and does not respond to normal treatment, it can be treated with other drugs if it is identified, a state health official said.

TB is an infectious disease characterized by the formation of tubercles--abnormal hard nodules--in tissues of the body, especially the lungs.

The state Health Department’s TB expert said the victims’ medical conditions made them more susceptible to getting sick quickly.

Statewide, 84 cases of TB were confirmed among inmates in the first 10 months of this year, Coughlin said. The cases remain under investigation to see if they involve the drug-resistant strain. The prison system is a microcosm of New York state, where TB increased 31% from 1989 to 1990, to 4,186 cases, said Sue Kelly, executive deputy director of the state Office of Public Health.

“Much of the increase in TB in New York has been in Afro-American and Latino males, aged 20 to 44 years, and is associated with poverty, substance abuse and HIV infection,” she said in a letter to Coughlin.

“These characteristics, common in New York state prison inmates, combined with the close quarters of institutional care, create potentially explosive conditions for TB transmission in prisons,” she said.