A screening of 615 mentally retarded residents in a Finnish institution revealed 22 HBsAg-positive asymptomatic carriers in 1972. Thirteen of them were placed in a special ward and followed up for 12 years. Only one patient had hepatitis eight years later. During the years all 52 staff members of the ward and the laboratory had been HBsAg-negative, but one laboratory nurse and two ward nurses showed antibody production. The seroconversion rate was one per 33 person-years among the staff. The results suggest that the risk of transmitting hepatitis B still exists, even in special wards in such institutions, and isolation of the carriers alone cannot guarantee full protection for hepatitis B infections.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Early clinical symptoms and incidence of aspartylglucosaminuria in Finland.

Early clinical symptoms were analyzed from all known 43 children with aspartylglucosaminuria, born during 1974-1989 in Finland. Pre- and perinatal histories appeared normal for all children, except for muscular hypotonia and weak sucking in some babies. Three infants had abduction stiffness in the hips, needing follow-up. Other abnormalities found in infancy were umbilical or inguinal hernias and unusual susceptibility to respiratory and ear infections. This susceptibility diminished clearly in most patients after six years of age. Episodic diarrhea, described earlier, appeared to be a rather infrequent symptom and a less valuable diagnostic clue. New clinical phenomena were talipes planovalgus or clubfoot, needing surgical treatment, and aggressive behavior, needing, occasionally, child psychiatric consultation or treatment. In addition, angiokeratoma of the skin, not an infrequent phenomenon among adult patients, was found in one child. The main indications for further studies were delayed speech, attention deficit and clumsy or delayed motor functions. The disease is easily misdiagnosed and, universally, probably underdiagnosed. Its incidence in Finland was recalculated and appeared to be at least 1 in 18,500 live-born babies in this country.

Aspartylglucosylaminase↗