Estudio de un brote de hepatitis B en la cárcel de una ciudad intermedia colombiana 1992-1993

From September 1992 to January 1993, an outbreak of iaundice due to infection by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was detected in a jail in Honda, a medium sized city in the de- partment of Tolima (Colombia). A cross sectional study was carried out by members of the Hospital San Juan de Dios from Honda and the Instituto Nacional de Salud de Co- lombia in order to assess the extent of the outbreak, to identify those susceptible to HVB infection, to assess the risk factors associated with the HVB transmission and to imple- ment the control measures in order to cut the transmission chain. All the people living in the iail, 103 prisoners and 31 staff members, were serologically surveyed and al1 of them answered a risk factors' questionnaire.