PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

T J Halpin

Publications and source records attributed to T J Halpin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

A retrospective death certificate study of AIDS and AIDS-related conditions in Ohio: 1984-1986.

AIDS surveillance data are used routinely to define the magnitude of the epidemic, project future case numbers, delineate risk behaviors, and to assist in health planning and resource allocation. The purposes of this study are: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) AIDS Surveillance System in Ohio from 1984 through 1986 and (2) to identify additional cases which may have been overlooked through normal case identification procedures. A review of all deaths occurring in Ohio among males between the ages 20 and 50 was conducted for several diseases and conditions commonly associated with AIDS.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity in intravenous drug users in Ohio.

A seroprevalence survey of 508 intravenous (IV) drug users enrolled in methadone treatment programs in Ohio for evidence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) demonstrated a positivity prevalence of 1.4%. This seropositivity prevalence is low compared with 10% to 72% positive from surveys conducted in the IV drug-using populations of New York, New Jersey, Detroit and San Francisco. Although needle sharing was common (71% since 1983), the number of sharing partners was usually limited and regular. A potential for cross-infection from urban centers with higher seropositivity prevalence was indicated by patterns of travel and needle sharing while traveling to higher risk metropolitan centers such as New York. Hispanics appeared to be at greater risk for HIV infection (OR 17.7, 95% CI 2.4-133.0), as were male IV drug users with gay/bisexual lifestyles (OR 14.1, 95% CI 1.3-153.0). HIV positive individuals were identified in Cleveland (1.6%), Dayton (3.1%), and Columbus (0.8%), but not in the four other Ohio metropolitan areas participating in the survey. Study participants indicated that knowledge of AIDS had changed their IV drug-using habits with 60% reporting that fear of AIDS had caused them to give up IV drugs or needle sharing. Sampling from methadone clinics may underestimate the HIV seropositivity in Ohio's IV drug-using community; however, it appears that relatively few IV drug users in Ohio are currently infected with HIV. The low prevalence of HIV infection in the Ohio IV drug-using community provides the opportunity to intervene in limiting the spread of the virus by educating individuals to reduce or eliminate risk factors for the transmission of the disease.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1986

Reye's syndrome. An epidemiologic analysis of mild disease.

Patients with Reye's syndrome (RS) whose degree of severity was classified as stage 0 (alert and awake) were compared with patients with a severity classification of stage 1 or greater. The Centers for Disease Control case definition and staging criteria were used. Two hundred twenty-seven patients with RS were investigated by the Ohio Department of Health from Dec 1, 1978, through March 31, 1980. There were 67 identified patients who never exceeded stage 0 and 160 patients classified as stage 1 or greater. Both groups of patients were compared according to demographic features, symptomatology, medication use during the antecedent illness, and laboratory findings during the RS illness. Stage 0 patients were similar to patients at stage 1 or greater in their demographic features, illnesses, medications preceding RS, and results of liver function tests; however, values of serum ammonia, creatine phosphokinase, prothrombin time, and bilirubin increased with RS severity.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1986

A Community-wide epidemic of hepatitis A in Ohio.

Between June 1, 1983 and August 30, 1984, an epidemic involving 313 cases of hepatitis A occurred in Muskingum County, Ohio. One hundred ninety-seven cases occurred in the city of Zanesville, with 34.7% of cases concentrated in two neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city. Case characteristics were similar to those reported in previous community-wide outbreaks, including a maximum attack rate among 5-9-year-olds and a very low attack rate in adults over 30 years. Case households were larger, and their members were less educated than the mean for households in the city. Forty-eight per cent of the cases reported exposures to other cases which temporally could have been the source of infection. A case-control study failed to show differences in several behavioral factors between case and control households, but did confirm that lower socioeconomic status was a risk factor for the disease. Broad use of immunoglobulin was effective in preventing clinical disease among family contacts, but did not stop the outbreak. This outbreak typifies a genre of hepatitis A epidemic transmitted from person to person in which exact routes of spread are poorly understood and control is difficult. Lower socioeconomic status may be a marker for some unidentified behaviors that promote hepatitis A transmission.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Effectiveness of mumps vaccine in a school outbreak.

An outbreak of mumps in a middle school (grades 6 through 8) in Ohio during 1981 was investigated to determine the effectiveness of mumps vaccine. Of the 481 middle school students on whom questionnaires were completed, 62 (12.4%) exhibited clinical mumps. The overall vaccine efficacy was 81.2% when children with a history of mumps disease are excluded from the analysis. Using a logistic regression model with the presence or absence of clinical mumps as the dependent variable, three factors were found to be significant: mumps vaccine, a history of mumps disease, and sex. Factors that did not significantly affect the rate of disease among vaccinated pupils included whether the mumps vaccine was administered singly or in combination with rubella and/or measles vaccine, age at vaccination, year of vaccination, and month of vaccination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Mumps disease and its health impact: an outbreak-based report.

An outbreak of mumps in a middle school (grades 6 to 8) in Ohio during 1981 was investigated to describe the clinical findings, health impact, and costs. Individuals with clinical mumps in the middle school and in family members were questioned concerning symptoms, complications, hospitalizations, school days absent, and parental work days missed. There were 62 cases of clinical mumps in the middle school and 13 cases among family members. Parotitis lasted an average of 7.4 days and fever (if present) lasted an average of 2.5 days with a mean temperature of 38.6 degrees C (101.4 degrees F). The duration of parotitis and fever increased with age. Complications included encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, orchitis, oophoritis, mastitis, and pancreatitis. Visits to physicians were made by 62.7% (47/75) of the individuals with mumps for a total of 63 visits, and two patients were hospitalized for a total of six days. Persons who attended middle school missed an average of 4.9 days of school. The estimated direct and indirect costs associated with this outbreak were $2,460 and $1,353, respectively, or $51 per case. States lacking mumps immunization requirements experienced a three-times greater incidence of mumps in 1982 than States that required all school pupils to be immunized. We recommend that all States institute compulsory mumps school immunization laws for all school children.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1985

Mumps in Ohio.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Reye's syndrome and medication use.

Ninety-seven Reye's syndrome (RS) cases in Ohio children with onsets from December 1978 through March 1980 were studied for medication use during their pre-RS illness. They were matched with 156 control subjects for age, race, sex, geographic location, time, and type of illness. Only the use of aspirin was reported by significantly more cases (97%, 94/97) than controls (71%, 110/156) during the pre-RS matched illness. Using a multiple logistic model to control for the presence of fever, headache, and sore throat statistically, the difference in aspirin use remained significant. Conversely, fewer cases (16%) took medications containing acetaminophen than controls (33%). In 87% of the cases receiving aspirin, their maximum daily dosage did not exceed recommended levels, but their doses were higher than those of controls receiving aspirin. No relationship was found between dosage and stage of RS encephalopathy.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1982

The role of indoor and outdoor occupations in the seroepidemiology of Legionella pneumophila.

Exposure to disturbed soil has been postulated as a source of L. pneumophila in relation to outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease [1]. Using serum samples from 588 healthy individuals engaged in indoor and outdoor occupations in Ohio, we performed indirect fluorescent antibody tests for L. pneumophila serogroups 1 and 2. Reciprocal and geometric mean titers were compared between indoor and outdoor occupational groups. We found 19.2 of the outdoor workers to be positive (titer, greater than or equal to 1:128) for serogroups 1 and 2, whereas 20.7% and 16.3% of the indoor workers were positive for serogroups 1 and 2, respectively. The differences in seropositivity were not statistically significant between occupations when the data were evaluated by sex, race, geographic area, and age. An analysis of the variance and a comparison of the two proportions were used to test the data and geometric mean titers were tested by Student's t-test. All of the differences were not significant at a level of P less than or equal to 0.05. Combining the data from the two groups of workers resulted in 19.9% and 17.9% seropositivity in the total study population for serogroups 1 and 2, respectively. These findings demonstrated that the presence of antibodies to L. pneumophila serogroups 1 and 2 in this non-epidemic-related study was comparable to or higher rates in epidemic-related studies [1]. The present study defines what may be an endemic level of L. pneumophila in Ohio and demonstrates geographic variations in the seropositivity rates [2]. Our results also support the findings of Muldoon et al., who found that seroconversion may occur early in children and also may be maintained in adults over a long interval[3].

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Guillain-Barré syndrome in recipients of A/New Jersey influenza vaccine.

In late 1976, when 32% of the eligible population of Ohio received the A/New Jersey influenza (swine flu) vaccine, systematic contact of neurologists was used to evaluate the possible association of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) with receipt of the vaccine. The overall rate of GBS was significantly higher among vaccine recipients (13.3/10(6)) than in nonrecipients (2.6/10(6)). Peak time of onset was two to three weeks after receiving the vaccine, and cases among vaccinees were less likely to have a history of antecedent infection than were cases in unvaccinated persons. Even when the effect of one highly associated vaccine lot was removed, an elevated risk of GBS remained in vaccinees regardless of manufacturer or vaccine type (bivalent or monovalent). Systematic surveillance is needed for rare serious reactions from all vaccines.

Humans↗
PubMed1980

Measles in rural Ohio county.

Between December 23, 1975, and March 31, 1976, 169 cases of measles were reported from Defiance County, Ohio, a small rural county in the northwest corner of the State. The outbreak spread from a single junior high school basketball player to eventually involve 19 of the 28 county schools. Among the affected schools, measles attack rates varied from 0.3-7.2% with a mean of 2.0%. A likely source of illness was determined for 160 of the 169 cases (95%). Intraschool transmission was most common, accounting for 97 of the 169 cases (57%) followed by sibling contact for 23 cases (14%). The pattern of measles spread was complex and would have been difficult to predict in advance even if surveillance systems reported each case the day it occurred. A control program held between February 2 and February 20, 1976, vaccinated 5145 of the 11,114 (46.3%) county schoolchildren. Forty-four cases of measles occurred 4 or more days following school clinics, 22 (50%) in children who requested measles vaccine at school clinics, 17 of whom were actually vaccinated. Most of the other cases occurred in students whose parents thought their children to be protected. Measles is a disease which spreads rapidly in a complex pattern over wide geographic areas. A control program vaccinating a large proportion of the children without definitive history of adequate vaccination or disease was apprently effective in curtailing the outbreak.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Reye syndrome in Ohio, 1973-1977.

Some major epidemiologic features of Reye syndrome have been elucidated since the first description of this clinical entity. Multiple studies have shown an association with epidemic influenza B and endemic varicella. Little population data are available on age, sex, race, geographic distribution, and secular trends. A five-year retrospective population-based study of 190 Ohio residents diagnosed with Reye syndrome from January 1, 1973-December 31, 1977, is reported here. The temporal relationships between the occurrence of Reye syndrome and influenza B and varicella were confirmed; however, a high number of blacks and city dwellers with Reye syndrome were found in this study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Effectiveness of a mailed reminder on the immunization levels of infants at high risk of failure to complete immunizations.

The Ohio Department of Health initiated a program of mailing an immunization reminder to the mothers of six-month-old children predicted to be at high risk of failure to receive vaccinations based on birth certificate information. The evaluation results indicated a 50% gain in immunizations amongst children whose parents received the letter when compared with those not receiving the letter.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗