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Biomedical subjects

R W McCollum

Publications and source records attributed to R W McCollum.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1965

Some observations on the ecology of infectious hepatitis.

Analysis of reported rates for infectious hepatitis in the USA and in New York State for the years 1954 through 1962 reveals an inverse relationship between incidence and population density in epidemic as well as inter-epidemic periods. Patterns of age-specific rates were also found to vary with population density, the fluctuations being much greater in rural than in urban areas. The gradual change of hepatitis from a predominantly childhood to an adult disease is noted in data from California.The observations based on data from the USA are compared with those for Denmark and contrasted with recently reported studies from eastern Europe. Such comparisons may prove of value in predicting patterns to be anticipated in areas where infectious hepatitis is currently in the early or pre-epidemic stage of its evolution as a public health problem.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Va cooperative study of post-transfusion hepatitis, 1969-1974: incidence and characteristics of hepatitis and responsible risk factors.

The Veterans Administration has been conducting a cooperative randomized, double-blind, controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of conventional and hepatitis B immune serum globulin for the prevention of post-transfusion hepatitis. Data collected between 1969 and 1974 provide the opportunity to describe the annual incidence and characteristics of the hepatitis that has developed, and the risk factors which have been identified. Anicteric hepatitis has developed four times more frequently than icteric hepatitis, the total incidence for all six years being 11.3 per cent. The incidence of HBs Ag-associated hepatitis declined dramatically after 1973 with the institution of routine screening of donor blood by radioimmunoassay techniques, although no change in the incidence of antigen-negative hepatitis has occurred. There is indirect evidence to suggest that an undefined agent is responsible for the majority of instances of post-transfusion hepatitis occurring presently. The most important risk factor responsible for the development of hepatitis is the use of commercial blood, and it is strongly urged that this form of blood be removed from general use.

Blood Banks↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Some observations on viral hepatitis.

Epidemiologic patterns of viral hepatitis continue to change over time. Our understanding of its behavior began to change with the recognition that multiple distinct etiologic agents (hepatitis viruses A, B, and non-A/non-B) produce similar clinical syndromes and that there is a broad variability of age-related host response to infection with a given agent. Dorothy Horstmann was among the first to point to the relative mildness of symptoms in children and to the potential epidemiologic significance of such infections. Although hepatitis type A appears to be on a steady decline in overall national incidence, there is an increasing recognition of adult cases epidemiologically related to relatively mild or inapparent infections among infants and children attending day-care centers.

Adolescent↗