Bangor Daily News
WARREN, Maine — An inmate at the Maine State Prison likely died from the flu, a disease that most prisoners are not given vaccinations for, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.
According to a post on the agency’s website, “on March 8, 2011, the [Maine CDC] received a laboratory report of a positive influenza specimen from an intensive-care unit patient who was an inmate at a prison. That same day, the state medical examiner notified Maine CDC of an inmate death suspected to be have been caused by influenza at another, nearby prison.”
The statement said that about 40 other inmates and several staff members at both facilities were sick with the flu.
“Correctional Medical Services, which provides health services to both facilities reported that influenza vaccination coverage among inmates was very low (less than 10 percent), and coverage among staff members was unknown but believed to be low,” the CDC wrote.
The CDC went on to say, “Maine CDC assisted [Correctional Medical Services] and the Maine Department of Corrections in conducting an epidemiologic investigation to gather more information about the two cases, initiate case finding and implement control measures, which included emphasizing respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, closing both facilities to new admissions and transfers and offering vaccination and antiviral drugs to inmates and staff members.”
After the initial outbreak, the prisoners and staff members were offered vaccinations, the CDC wrote.
Copyright 2012 Bangor Daily News