Introduction:

Sexually transmitted infections, among them syphilis, constitute a serious threat to health for the penal population in different countries.

Objective:

To characterize the inmate patients diagnosed with syphilis from the clinical-epidemiologic point of view.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out from January, 2016 to December, 2022, of 147 inmates diagnosed with syphilis in Aguadores Penitentiary Center of Santiago de Cuba. The qualitative variables were analyzed and the distributions of frequencies and, as for the age, the mean and standard deviation were calculated. The chi-square test of independence was used to identify some significant association between the variables of interest.

Results:

In the case material there was a prevalence of the diagnosis of latent syphilis (98.6%), the 25 to 34 age group (36.0%) and the secondary school level (55.8%). Most of the inmates had acquired the bacterial infection in the exterior of the prison (93.9%), had criminal record for the first time (45-6%) and didn't enjoy marital visits (74.2%).

Conclusions:

Syphilis detection in the inmates of Aguadores prison has allowed that they know of their health state, which avoids the propagation of that disease inside the prison.

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