Introduction
In many countries the statistics mention the high concentration of mental diseases, drug abuse and infectious diseases in detention places.
The research conducted in Russia in late 1990s showed that within the structure of the diseases among the persons being detained the most disseminated diseases were as following: respiratory apparatus diseases (pneumonia etc.) – 23,5%, mental diseases (alcoholism, drug abuse etc. -19,6%, infectious diseases (tuberculosis etc.) – 17,3%, skin diseases (rash, pediculosis) – 10,9%.
In late 1990s the situation got worse especially due to the wide dissemination of drugs in Russia. In 2002 in Russian prisons 96 915 detained persons were subject to drug abuse, 61 579 – to alcoholism, 120 517 – to another mental diseases.
During 3-4 last years the epidemiologic situation improved because of the full prisons providing with the anti-tuberculosis remedies and medicaments. Meanwhile, the main index – the tuberculosis morbidity in Russia – still remains very high and is now one of the highest in Europe – 2028 infected for 100 000 persons.16% of all the cases witness a dangerous tendency – the increasing number of the infected persons having multi-drug resistance (about 16%).
Today the high mortality of the detained persons is subject to the cardiovascular diseases (32%), infectious diseases (27%) and external (non-medical) factors.