Risk of Viral Hepatitis among Military Personnel Assigned to US Navy Ships

A prevalence study of 2072 male US shipboard military personnel scheduled for deployment to South America/West Africa and the Mediterranean was conducted to determine whether serologic evidence of prior hepatitis A, B, or C infection is associated with exposure in foreign countries. There were 210 s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 165; no. 4; pp. 716 - 719
Main Authors:	Hawkins, Richard E., Malone, John D., Cloninger, Lee A., Rozmajzl, Patrick J., Lewis, Drew, Butler, James, Cross, Eleanor, Gray, Stephanie, Hyams, Kenneth C.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01-04-1992 University of Chicago Press
Subjects:	Adult Biological and medical sciences Concise Communications Hepatitis Hepatitis A Hepatitis A - epidemiology Hepatitis A - ethnology Hepatitis Antibodies - blood Hepatitis antigens Hepatitis B Hepatitis B - epidemiology Hepatitis B - ethnology Hepatitis C - epidemiology Hepatitis C - ethnology hepatitis C virus Humans Infections Infectious diseases Male Medical sciences Middle Aged Military Personnel Military service Naval Medicine Navies Risk Factors Sexually transmitted diseases Travel United States - epidemiology Viral diseases Viral hepatitis United States USA Infection Human Viral hepatitis Prevalence Immunological investigation Viral disease Risk factor Serology Statistical study Military
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Summary:	A prevalence study of 2072 male US shipboard military personnel scheduled for deployment to South America/West Africa and the Mediterranean was conducted to determine whether serologic evidence of prior hepatitis A, B, or C infection is associated with exposure in foreign countries. There were 210 subjects (10.1%) who had antibodies to hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV), 76 (3.7%) to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and 9 (0.4%) to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV). By multivariate analysis, anti-HAV seropositivity was independently associated with age, nonwhite racial/ethnic groups, birth outside of the United States, and prior Caribbean deployment for <1 year. Anti-HBc seropositivity was independently associated with black and Filipino race/ ethnicity, foreign birth, a history of a sexually transmitted disease, South Pacific/Indian Ocean deployment <12 months), and South Pacific or Mediterranean duty for (>1 year). No geographic risk factors were associated with anti-HCV positivity. These data indicate that military personnel deployed outside the United States are at increased risk ofviral hepatitis infection and should be considered for vaccination.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/HXZ-QJQX5MKV-L Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Richard E. Hawkins. Infectious Disease Division, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda. MD 20889-1000. istex:BB14990EE47512F00A2A4081FEEA1B0C3D230BA3 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0022-1899 1537-6613
DOI:	10.1093/infdis/165.4.716