Vaccine-preventable disease susceptibility in a young adult Micronesian population.

Current US military recruit vaccination policy presumes that recruits have had a complete childhood immunization series. This assumption may not be appropriate for recruits from Micronesia, who may have had limited access to modern health care, including immunization programs. During 1988 and 1990, a cross-sectional serosurvey was conducted among 66 US military recruits, 56 from the Federated States of Micronesia and 10 from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, collectively referred to as Micronesia. Antibody seronegativity levels for 12 vaccine-preventable (or potentially so) diseases were: measles (52%), mumps (14%), rubella (21%), varicella (38%), diphtheria (39%) tetanus (0%), polio type 1 (4%), polio type 2 (0%), polio type 3 (14%), hepatitis A (9%), hepatitis B (17%), and hepatitis C (98%). Compared with Army recruits in general, Micronesian recruits were significantly more likely to be seronegative for measles and varicella and seropositive for hepatitis types A and B. Personal histories of disease were felt to be inadequate in predicting antibody status.

[1]  P. Kelley,et al.  The susceptibility of young adult Americans to vaccine-preventable infections. A national serosurvey of US Army recruits. , 1991, JAMA.

[2]  D. Bradley,et al.  Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis: Toward the Discovery of Hepatitis C and E Viruses , 1991, Seminars in liver disease.

[3]  L. Palinkas,et al.  Increasing incidence of varicella hospitalizations in United States Army and Navy personnel: are today's teenagers more susceptible? Should recruits be vaccinated? , 1990, Pediatrics.

[4]  J. Rotschafer,et al.  Current immunization practices. 2. Hemophilus influenzae, pneumococcal, and meningococcal infections, rabies, and hepatitis. , 1989, Postgraduate medicine.

[5]  W. J. Steinberg,et al.  Notification of five of the EPI target diseases in South Africa. An assessment of disease and vaccination reporting. , 1987, South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde.

[6]  G. Lenoir,et al.  Measurement of antibodies to varicella-zoster virus in a tropical population by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay , 1984, Journal of clinical microbiology.

[7]  R H Purcell,et al.  Prevalence of antibody to hepatitis A and hepatitis B viruses in selected populations of the South Pacific. , 1979, American journal of epidemiology.

[8]  D. Bradley,et al.  Detection of hepatitis A viral antigen by radioimmunoassay. , 1975, Journal of immunology.

[9]  L. Overby,et al.  Radioimmunoassay of Hepatitis B Virus‐Associated (Australia) Antigen Employing 125I‐Antibody , 1973, Vox sanguinis.

[10]  M. Cooray,et al.  COMPARISONS BETWEEN CHICKENPOX IN A TROPICAL AND A EUROPEAN COUNTRY. , 1963, The Journal of tropical medicine and hygiene.

[11]  J. Ipsen,et al.  Circulating antitoxin at the onset of diphtheria in 425 patients. , 1946, Journal of immunology.

[12]  P. Russell,et al.  Military immunizations. Past, present, and future prospects. , 1990, Infectious disease clinics of North America.

[13]  G. Demmler,et al.  Rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting antibody to varicella-zoster virus. , 1988, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[14]  L. Overby,et al.  Serologic studies of transmission of hepatitis A in humans. , 1979, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[15]  K. Miyamura,et al.  Micro cell culture method for determination of diphtheria toxin and antitoxin titres using VERO cells. I. Studies on factors affecting the toxin and antitoxin titration. , 1974, Journal of biological standardization.

[16]  C. J. Maloney,et al.  Immunization against neonatal tetanus in New Guinea. , 1970, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[17]  M. Pittman,et al.  Immunization against neonatal tetanus in New Guinea. Antitoxin response of pregnant women to adjuvant and plain toxoids. , 1965, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.