Cargando…

The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008

BACKGROUND: Without intervention, up to 25% of individuals chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) die of late complications, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. The United States, which in 1991 implemented a strategy to eliminate HBV transmission through universal immunization, is a cou...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mitchell, Tarissa, Armstrong, Gregory L., Hu, Dale J., Wasley, Annemarie, Painter, John A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3233539/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163270
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027717
_version_ 1782218426633158656
author Mitchell, Tarissa
Armstrong, Gregory L.
Hu, Dale J.
Wasley, Annemarie
Painter, John A.
author_facet Mitchell, Tarissa
Armstrong, Gregory L.
Hu, Dale J.
Wasley, Annemarie
Painter, John A.
author_sort Mitchell, Tarissa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Without intervention, up to 25% of individuals chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) die of late complications, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. The United States, which in 1991 implemented a strategy to eliminate HBV transmission through universal immunization, is a country of low prevalence. Approximately 3,000–5,000 U.S.-acquired cases of chronic hepatitis B have occurred annually since 2001. Many more chronically infected persons migrate to the United States yearly from countries of higher prevalence. Although early identification of chronic HBV infection can reduce the likelihood of transmission and late complications, immigrants are not routinely screened for HBV infection during or after immigration. METHODS: To estimate the number of imported cases of chronic hepatitis B, we multiplied country-specific prevalence estimates by the yearly number of immigrants from each country during 1974–2008. RESULTS: During 1974–2008, 27.9 million immigrants entered the U.S. Sixty-three percent were born in countries of intermediate or high chronic hepatitis B prevalence (range 2%–31%). On average, an estimated 53,800 chronic hepatitis B cases were imported to the U.S. yearly from 2004 through 2008. The Philippines, China, and Vietnam contributed the most imported cases (13.4%, 12.5%, and 11.0%, respectively). Imported cases increased from an estimated low of 105,750 during the period 1974–1977 to a high of 268,800 in 2004–2008. CONCLUSIONS: Imported chronic hepatitis B cases account for approximately 95% of new U.S. cases. Earlier case identification and management of infected immigrants would strengthen the U.S. strategy to eliminate HBV transmission, and could delay disease progression and prevent some deaths among new Americans.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3233539
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32335392011-12-12 The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008 Mitchell, Tarissa Armstrong, Gregory L. Hu, Dale J. Wasley, Annemarie Painter, John A. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Without intervention, up to 25% of individuals chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) die of late complications, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. The United States, which in 1991 implemented a strategy to eliminate HBV transmission through universal immunization, is a country of low prevalence. Approximately 3,000–5,000 U.S.-acquired cases of chronic hepatitis B have occurred annually since 2001. Many more chronically infected persons migrate to the United States yearly from countries of higher prevalence. Although early identification of chronic HBV infection can reduce the likelihood of transmission and late complications, immigrants are not routinely screened for HBV infection during or after immigration. METHODS: To estimate the number of imported cases of chronic hepatitis B, we multiplied country-specific prevalence estimates by the yearly number of immigrants from each country during 1974–2008. RESULTS: During 1974–2008, 27.9 million immigrants entered the U.S. Sixty-three percent were born in countries of intermediate or high chronic hepatitis B prevalence (range 2%–31%). On average, an estimated 53,800 chronic hepatitis B cases were imported to the U.S. yearly from 2004 through 2008. The Philippines, China, and Vietnam contributed the most imported cases (13.4%, 12.5%, and 11.0%, respectively). Imported cases increased from an estimated low of 105,750 during the period 1974–1977 to a high of 268,800 in 2004–2008. CONCLUSIONS: Imported chronic hepatitis B cases account for approximately 95% of new U.S. cases. Earlier case identification and management of infected immigrants would strengthen the U.S. strategy to eliminate HBV transmission, and could delay disease progression and prevent some deaths among new Americans. Public Library of Science 2011-12-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3233539/ /pubmed/22163270 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027717 Text en This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mitchell, Tarissa
Armstrong, Gregory L.
Hu, Dale J.
Wasley, Annemarie
Painter, John A.
The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title_full The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title_fullStr The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title_full_unstemmed The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title_short The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B — United States, 1974–2008
title_sort increasing burden of imported chronic hepatitis b — united states, 1974–2008
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3233539/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22163270
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027717
work_keys_str_mv AT mitchelltarissa theincreasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT armstronggregoryl theincreasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT hudalej theincreasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT wasleyannemarie theincreasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT painterjohna theincreasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT mitchelltarissa increasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT armstronggregoryl increasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT hudalej increasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT wasleyannemarie increasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008
AT painterjohna increasingburdenofimportedchronichepatitisbunitedstates19742008