Drug Abuse and Viral Hepatitis in Marines
- LCDR Richard P. Wenzel, MC;
- George L. Le Bouvier, MD;
- CAPT Walter E. Beam Jr., MSC
Abstract
Sporadic viral hepatitis occurred at Camp Lejeune, NC in 1970. One hundred eight patients were studied and 48 (44%) had sera positive for hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA), 23 of whom admitted to repeated parenteral drug abuse. This history was not useful in distinguishing viral types since 29 patients with HAA-negative sera also used drugs parenterally. All patients with HAA-positive sera were of the same serological subgroup (Y) and had a more severe disease than those with HAA-negative sera in terms of hospitalization time and liver-function tests. A semiquantitative measure of HAA helped distinguish between apparently transient and relatively persistent carriers. It is likely that viral hepatitis is becoming endemic on the military base, and that the HAA-positive viral pool is increasing because of drug abuse.
Footnotes
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The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large.
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Reprint requests to Naval Medical Field Research Laboratory, Camp Lejeune, NC 28542 (Dr. Wenzel).
