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Biomedical subjects

G F Grady

Publications and source records attributed to G F Grady.

81 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Passive immunization against viral hepatitis-- status and prospects.

The value of conventional gamma globulin in prophylaxis of hepatitis A has not been confirmed in recent years but there is no evidence that ineffectiveness has been encountered as a result of declining immune experience among antibody donors in open populations. Fortunately, specific tests for hepatitis A antibody are becoming available as a means of estimating effectiveness of currently manufactured gamma globin. Hepatis B prophylaxis by conventional gamma globlin is much more uncertain but the negative evidence must be considered in light of rising anti-HBs titers of globin manufactured more recently. The latter have appeared to be effective in pre-exposure prophylaxis when nonparenteral transmission was implicated. Post-exposure prophylaxis against massive inocula of hepatitis B, as in transfusions, would appear to require large amounts of HBs antibody. Protection against hepatitis from small inocula accompanying accidental punctures with contaminated needles is under controlled study to determine whether the anti-HBs titer of special globulin preparations is a predictive index of protection. Results are expected by midyear, 1975.

Hepatitis B Antibodies↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A clinical and laboratory evaluation of immune serum globulin from donors with a history of hepatitis: attempted prevention of post-transfusion hepatitis.

A controlled trial of passive immunization for prevention of post-transfusion viral hepatitis was carried out in order to determine whether effective levels of antibody were present in the "convalescent" immune serum globulin used in the study. This globulin was prepared selectively from plasma of donors giving a history of overt viral hepatitis two or more years earlier. The proportion of contributors to the globulin who had B hepatitis was unknown but the final product contained a low titer of antibody to the surface antigen of hepatitis B virus (anti-HBs). The failure of 20 ml of immune serum globulin to reduce the incidence of type B post-transfusion hepatitis (7/93) below that of placebo-treated controls (8/102) was not unexpected in view of the globulin's low titer of anti-HBs. However, more than two thirds of the post-transfusion cases were not type B and were as plentiful among globulin recipients (17/93) as among controls (17/102). Although some of the donors from whom the immune serum globulin was obtained may once have had the same type(s) of hepatitis as the non-B cases currently observed in transfusion recipients, the globulin apparently did not contain enough specific antibody to confer protection in the dose schedule tested.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

HIV seroprevalence surveys of childbearing women--objectives, methods, and uses of the data.

A seroprevalence survey of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among childbearing women is being conducted in 43 States and Territories as one of the family of HIV seroprevalence surveys. This blinded survey, in which serologic test results are not linked to identifiable persons, uses neonatal dried blood specimens on filter paper to test for maternal antibodies to HIV. This survey provides relatively unbiased estimates of prevalence of HIV infection in the population of women delivering live children during given survey periods, by month or quarter of delivery, geographic area, and demographic subgroup. This objective will be met while protecting the integrity and efficient conduct of neonatal screening programs and ensuring patient anonymity. Information from this survey will be used to (a) assess the levels and trends of HIV infection in women and infants, (b) help develop and evaluate prevention programs, and (c) project the number of women and children who will develop HIV infection and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and will require health care and social services in the future.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Absence of antibodies to HTLV-III in health workers after hepatitis B vaccination.

A proportion of the plasma for the triply inactivated, plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine produced in the United States is obtained from homosexual men. Because homosexual men are a high-risk group for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), concern has emerged that the vaccine could harbor the AIDS agent. To evaluate this risk, we tested 15-month postvaccination serum samples for antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III in 100 health care workers who had received inactivated hepatitis B vaccine lots made from plasma collected between 1977 and 1979 and 100 who had received placebo injections. None of the 200 health workers had serological evidence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III infection. These serological findings lend additional support to earlier epidemiologic and immunologic observations suggesting that hepatitis B vaccine does not transmit infection with an AIDS virus.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Strategies for prevention of hepatitis B as a sexually transmitted disease.

In industrialized western nations where sexual contact is a predominant mechanism of transmitting hepatitis B, benefit:cost models can be developed to indicate when testing of immunity (for susceptibility) would be worthwhile in order to target immunization to high-risk groups and extend the supplies of vaccine. Promiscuous male homosexuals illustrate one end of the spectrum in priority for immunization and screening tests. They are at high risk and at least 50% will be found seropositive for a marker of prior infection and thus do not need immunization. At the other end of the spectrum are populations of typical volunteer blood donors with neither sufficient risk to justify immunization nor a high enough prevalence of seropositive individuals ( less than 10%) to justify screening. An intermediate group, requiring screening tests for selective immunization, would be promiscuous heterosexuals attending venereal disease clinics. Aggressive immunization of sexually promiscuous adults will have major impact in western nations, whereas the newborn must remain the focus of immunization progrmas in areas of the world where hepatitis B virus is endemic.

Adolescent↗