Prevalence of Commonly Encountered Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Imprisoned Incarcerated Women

Background: sexually transmitted infections are major causes of morbidity among incarcerated women. however, little is known about the prevalence of these infections among female prisoners in iran. objectives: this cross-sectional study, assessed the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among a group of women imprisoned in adelabad prison, shiraz, iran. patients and methods: over a 6-month period, we screened 129 female inmates in adelabad prison, shiraz, iran for sexually transmitted infections by appropriate clinical and routine laboratory assessments. infected inmates were treated and followed up free of charge by the prison medical staff. results: all inmates had evidence of at least one sexually transmitted infection. chlamydial infection was the most common infection, which detected in 44 (34%) inmates, followed by candidiasis in 34 (26%), trichomoniasis in 26 (20%), syphilis in 8 (6%), and finally gonorrhea in 6 (4.5%) inmates. the least common infection was hiv infection, which was present in only 1 out of 129 subjects. in addition, 1 out of 58 (1.72%) serologically examined prisoners had hepatitis b, and 4 cases from 58 (7%) had evidence of hepatitis c, one of them was a drug addict and the other 3 had histories of past tattooing. conclusions: because of high rate of sexually transmitted infections (stis) in incarcerated women, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive screening program, treatment, follow-up, and partner notification in order to reduce the frequency of stis in this highrisk, vulnerable group of females.