RESUMO
Three diseases representative of specific health conditions affecting the Southeast Asian refugees living in middle Tennessee are leprosy (chronic bacterial infections), liver fluke infection (parasitic diseases), and hemoglobin E-beta-thalassemia (hematologic disorders). In this paper we discuss incidence, causative agent, mode of transmission, metabolic abnormalities, and management of these conditions.
Assuntos
Doenças Hematológicas/diagnóstico , Enteropatias Parasitárias/diagnóstico , Hanseníase/diagnóstico , Refugiados , Sudeste Asiático/etnologia , Dapsona/uso terapêutico , Quimioterapia Combinada , Feminino , Doenças Hematológicas/complicações , Hemoglobina E , Humanos , Recém-Nascido , Enteropatias Parasitárias/tratamento farmacológico , Laos/etnologia , Hanseníase/tratamento farmacológico , Masculino , Mebendazol/administração & dosagem , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Niclosamida/administração & dosagem , Gravidez , Complicações Infecciosas na Gravidez/parasitologia , Esplenectomia , Tennessee , Talassemia/complicações , Talassemia/diagnóstico , Tuberculose Cutânea/diagnóstico , Tuberculose Cutânea/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
Findings on health screening of immigrant Southeast Asian adolescents enrolled at a Federally funded vocational training facility were reviewed for the years 1979-1982. History of or positive skin test for tuberculosis was found in 55%. A heavy parasite burden was found in 46% of the recent Laotian immigrants, but was infrequent in Vietnamese who had been in the United States for several months before testing. Anemia was found in only 5.5%, though an additional 6.5% had findings suggestive of Thalasemia trait. Hepatitis B surface antigen positivity occurred in 16.8% but none had abnormal liver enzymes. One case of leprosy and three cases of idiopathic microscopic hematuria were detected.