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Hepatitis A and B are hyperendemic in tropical and, to a lesser extent, subtropical countries. This high level of endemicity is in sharp contrast with the low frequency of these infections in the industrialized world. As a consequence, the incidences of hepatitis A and B are high among travellers to or foreigners living in tropical or subtropical countries. Therefore, these subjects should be vaccinated against hepatitis A and B. Furthermore, the usual preventive measures should be maintained. Risk of infection with the hepatitis C and E virus are much lower. Given the increasing number of travellers to tropical and subtropical countries, imported hepatitis is a public health problem for industrialized countries. Preventive measures must, then, be reinforced.

HTLV-1 infection is endemic in Japan, black Africa, the Caribbean and several regions of South America. In these foci, the infections is very heterogeneously distributed (variations from village to village, intrafamilial clustering). The virus is transmitted from mother to child, and breast feedings seems to play a major role. Sexual transmission is usually from man to woman. The frequency of transmission by blood transfusion must not be underestimated. It justifies the systematic detection of HTLV-1 infection in areas where it is economically feasible.

15 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (14 women and 1 man aged between 30 and 75 years) were compared to a control group of 12 women and 1 man (aged between 22 and 77 years) admitted to the rheumatology unit at the same time for benign diseases. Both groups were examined for: the presence of a goitre, family history and/or clinical hormonal dysfunction, the plasma levels of total cholesterol, free thyroxin (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), before and 2 hours after 50 micrograms of thyrotropin IV, thyrostimulin half an hour before and one hour after thyrotropin and the levels of the antimicrosomal anti-thyroid antibodies and the anti-thyroglobulin antibodies. None of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis had any clinical hormonal dysfunction. However, 6 of the 15 patients presented a homogeneous goitre, 5 of these 6 patients had a family history of goitre and 2 had positive antibodies. In comparison with the control group, the 15 cases of rheumatoid arthritis had a significant decrease (m +/- sd) in the FT4 (13.20 +/- 2.50 pmol/l vs 15.60 +/- 2.47; p less than 0.02), FT3 (3.80 +/- 1.12 pmol/l vs 5.50 +/- 0.93; p less than 0.001) and a rise in the T3 with low thyrotropin (5.70 +/- 1.60 vs 8.50 +/- 1.50; p less than 0.001), while the levels of thyrostimulin and the thyrostimulin peak under thyrotropin were not modified.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)