You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT JAMA
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 237 No. 16, April 18, 1977 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  JAMA
  •  Online Features
  ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in JAMA
 Social Bookmarking
  Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Add to Digg Add to Reddit Add to Technorati Add to Twitter What's this?

Antibody to Hepatitis A Antigen in Institutionalized Mentally Retarded Patients

Wolf Szmuness, MD, DSc; Robert H. Purcell, MD; Jules L. Dienstag, MD; Cladd E. Stevens, MD, MPH

JAMA. 1977;237(16):1702-1705.


Abstract

. Institutionalized patients with Down syndrome and matched controls with other causes of mental retardation were tested by immune adherence hemagglutination for the presence of antibody to hepatitis A antigen (antiHA). Altogether 75.1% (175 of 233) exhibited presence of anti-HA, with no differences by sex or age. Patients reactive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or its antibody (anti-HBs) were reactive for anti-HA significantly more frequently than those with a negative reaction for these markers. In contrast to serologic markers of hepatitis type B, prevalence of anti-HA does not depend on the cause of mental retardation or on the age at primary infection. The rate of anti-HA positivity was found to be closely correlated with duration of institutionalization. The study confirmed that many closed institutions for the mentally retarded are hyperendemic for hepatitis type A and that formation of anti-HA is not greatly affected by either immune deficiency or immune immaturity.

(JAMA 237:1702-1705, 1977)



Author Affiliations

From the Laboratory of Epidemiology of the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute of the New York Blood Center (Drs Szmuness and Stevens), Division of Epidemiology, Columbia University School of Public Health (Dr Szmuness), New York, and the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Md (Drs Purcell and Dienstag).


Footnotes

Reprint requests to the New York Blood Center, Laboratory of Epidemiology, 310 E 67th St, New York, NY 10021 (Dr Szmuness).



Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Hepatitis Type A and Hemodialysis: A Seroepidemiologic Study in 15 U.S. Centers
SZMUNESS et al.
ANN INTERN MED 1977;87:8-12.
ABSTRACT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1977 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.