Hepatitis A infection in recent international adoptees and their contacts in Minnesota, 2007-2009.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to describe hepatitis A-infected adoptees and the risk of transmission to their contacts. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of adoptee-associated cases of hepatitis A and hepatitis A-infected adoptees identified in Minnesota from 2007 through 2009. RESULTS: From 2007 through 2009 in Minnesota, 10 cases of hepatitis A, including 1 fulminant case, were associated with international adoptees. Eight cases were direct contacts of a hepatitis A-infected adoptee, and 2 other cases secondary contacts of an adoptee. During the same period, hepatitis A infection was identified in 21 recently arrived foreign-born adoptees; all were younger than 60 months of age, and only 6 were symptomatic. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should be aware that transmission of hepatitis A may occur among both direct and secondary contacts of young children recently adopted from hepatitis A-endemic areas and that infected young children may be asymptomatic. Household members and other close contacts of international adoptees should be counseled about hepatitis A prevention, including vaccination. In addition, screening for hepatitis A should be considered for recently arrived adoptees from endemic areas.

Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis among Somalis in Minnesota.

To analyze extrapulmonary tuberculosis in Somalis living in Minnesota, we reviewed surveillance and public health case management data on tuberculosis cases in ethnic Somalis in Minnesota from 1993 through 2003. The presence of these recent immigrants substantially affects the local epidemiology and clinical manifestation of tuberculosis.