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RADIATION RESEARCH 108, 74-79 (1986)

NEL VO.

4018475

2ZIX

Serologic Markers for Hepatitis B among Marshallese Accidentally
Exposedto Fallout Radiation in 1954
WILLIAM H. ADAMS,*' HOWARDA. FIELDS, JOHN R. ENGLE,*

AND STEPHEN C. HADLERT

*Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973
+Hepatitis Branch, Division of Viral Disease, Centersfor Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia 30333
ADAMS, W. H., FIELDS, H. A., ENGLE, J. R., AND HADLER, S. C. Serologic Markers for Hepa-

titis B among Marshallese Accidentally Exposed to Fallout Radiation in 1954, Radiat. Res. 108,
74~—79 (1986).

At least one serologic markerof prior hepatitis B infection (hepatitis B surface antigen, antibody to surface antigen, or antibody to core antigen) was found in 91.7% of 314 Marshallese
tested. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigenemia (3.3%) in a subpopulation that had
resided on Rongelap Atoll at the time of accidental exposure to radioactive fallout from a thermonucteartest in 1954 did not differ significantly from the prevalence in a selected unexposed
population (10.5%).

© 1986 Academic Press,Inc.

A high prevalence of hepatitis B infection has been reported in Asia and the Western Pacific (/-5). Herein is documented another Pacific population, that of the Re-

public of the MarshailIslands, in which nearly universal serologic evidence of hepatitis B infection is present in adults. Against this background serologic markers of prior
hepatitis B infection have been analyzed in a subpopulation of Marshallese which

was accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout from a thermonucleartest in 1954.

This was done because radiation-induced immunosuppression may determine, in

part, the frequency and consequences of the chronic hepatitis B surface antigen
(HBsAg) carrier state. Data reported by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation

suggest such a deleterious effect among Japanese atomic bombingsurvivors (6, 7).
The Marshallese hepatitis B experience does not reveal a similar pattern.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Theatolls of Enewetak and Bikini in the Marshall Islands were U.S. nuclear proving grounds from 1946
to 1958. In 1954, the populations of Rongelap and Utink atolls, numbering 253 including those in utero,

were accidentally exposed to radioactive fallout from a thermonucleartest on Bikini atoll (8). Inhabitants
of Rongelap received a whole-body gammaradiation dose of 110 to 190 rad; those on Utirik received
approximately 11 rad. The thyroid-absorbed dose due to radioiodines was much higher (9, /0). Since 1954

the exposed populations have voluntarily received periodic medical examinations and treatment carried
out by the Medical Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract to the Atomic Energy

"To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

0033-7587/86 $3.00

74

Copyright © 1986 by Academic Press, Inc.
All nights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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