Vaccine-preventable disease susceptibility in a young adult Micronesian population

Current US military recruit vaccination policy presumes that recruits have had a complete childhood immunization series. This assumption may not be appropriate for recruits from Micronesia, who may have had limited access to modern health care, including immunization programs. During 1988 and 1990, a cross-sectional serosurvey was conducted among 66 US military recruits, 56 from the Federated States of Micronesia and 10 from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, collectively referred to as Micronesia. Antibody seronegativity levels for 12 vaccine-preventable (or potentially so) diseases were: measles (52%), mumps (14%), rubella (21%), varicella (38%), diphtheria (39%) tetanus (0%), polio type 1 (4%), polio type 2 (0%), polio type 3 (14%), hepatitis A (9%), hepatitis B (17%), and hepatitis C (98%). Compared with Army recruits in general, Micronesian recruits were significantly more likely to be seronegative for measles and varicella and seropositive for hepatitis types A and B. Personal histories of disease were felt to be inadequate in predicting antibody status.