title: Hepatitis B follow-up among Indochinese refugees.
abstract: During 1979 and 1980 the Department of National Health and Welfare carried out a survey and later routine testing to determine the prevalence of serologic markers of hepatitis B in Indochinese refugees entering Canada. Between March and July 1981 the hepatitis-B-marker status of 220 selected refugees in the Ottawa-Hull area was reassessed. Overall, 173 (79%) of the participants had the same serologic markers when retested, but in 47 (21%) the markers had changed. The most significant changes were the loss of antigenemia in 22% of those who had been HBsAg-positive and the appearance of evidence of infection in 18% of those who had been seronegative. Most of these changes occurred among persons under 30 years of age, especially females aged 10 to 19 years.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000208:ethnology; D002170:Canada; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008297:Male; D012036:Refugees; D012698:Serologic Tests; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens