EPIDEMIC HEPATITIS B: A SUSTAINED OUTBREAK IN A LARGE MILITARY POPULATION

Abstract

Allen, A. M., G. R. Irwin (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20012), J. J. Karwacki, D. C. Warren and R. S. Levine. Epidemic hepatitis B: a sustained outbreak in a large military population.Am J Epidemiol102:545–552, 1975. A sustained outbreak of viral hepatitis occurred at an Army base in Texas between January 1971 and June 1973. Seven hundred ninety-two admissions but no deaths were recorded in a military population of 35, 000. Cases were sporadic, with highest attack rates in low-ranking soldiers with disciplinary problems. Twenty-nine per cent of patients had histories of intravenous drug use within six months prior to hospitalization; most of the rest had close personal contact with jaundiced persons. Of 505 patients tested, 31% were seropositive for hepatitis B antigen (HB₈Ag) by counterelectrophoresis. Comparison of 38 hepatitis patients (cases) to 34 orthopedic patients (controls) revealed marked differences in rates of exposure to jaundiced persons and shared needles. Sixteen (94%) of 17 antigenemic cases tested were of subtype ayw. Seven (78%) of nine HB₈Ag-negative cases tested were antibody (anti-HB₈) positive threemonths later.