need help with your account or subscription? click here to email us (or see the contact page)
join telegramNEW! discord
jump to exam page:
search for anything ⋅ score predictor (โ€œpredict me!โ€)

NBME 23 Answers

nbme23/Block 2/Question#6 (reveal difficulty score)
A 6-month-old girl is brought to the office ...
Hepatitis B ๐Ÿ” / ๐Ÿ“บ / ๐ŸŒณ / ๐Ÿ“–
tags:

 Login (or register) to see more


 +16  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—chris07(69)
get full access to all contentpick a username

The only infection on that list that you would even screen an otherwise healthy appearing individual is HepB. The others I would think you only check if the patient has a presentation that makes you suspect them, like EBV if they had signs of mono, or RSV if they had respiratory symptoms. At that point, they're no longer screening tests, but more diagnostic ones.

get full access to all contentpick a username
gilbert  I got it right because I thought of the prevalance of HBV in China. +10
yesa  Also, HBV forms chronic infection in children (HCV chronic in adults), so if she's not vaccinated for it, you screen for it first. All of the others you don't screen for even if they cause a latent infection (CMV...) +2
veryhungrycaterpillar  @gilbert. Exactly. You don't normally screen people for Hep B in the US, unless they're from a demographic. Chinese immigrants are among that demographic. +2
whk123  I just see China and marked EBV. I am dumb +5
blastocyte101  LMAO @wkh123 same.. was feeling so proud while picking it +



 +6  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—sympathetikey(1600)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Lucky deduction, but looking back, I believe what they were going for is what she should have been vaccinated for at 6 months of age (since there are no apparent symptoms).

Hep B vaccine is usually given at birth, 1 month, and 6 months of age, so it's pretty important that she be vaccinated against it, unless she already has it, in which case she should be treated to avoid cirrhosis.

get full access to all contentpick a username
ls3076  how can we actually be expected to know vaccination schedules... there must be some other reason the answer is correct +5
cbreland  I don't think we need to know that the vaccination schedules, but that the only other answer with a vaccine was adenovirus. I figured that there would have more symptoms if she had adenovirus (plus didn't fit the typical military recruit/swimmer demographic) +1
koko  Why does it have to be something with a vaccine? RSV Is extremely common in babies,shouldnโ€™t screen for that? +1
makingstrides  I didn't get my hep B vaccine until I was a teen +2
srmtn  it is related to the screening during pregnancy, nothing to do with vaccines. +2



 +3  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—usmle11a(102)
get full access to all contentpick a username

the child is asymptomatic because hepatitis B is mostly silent in infants due to poor lymphocyte system. other diseases would probably show more symptoms

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +3  upvote downvote
submitted by goodkarmaonly(2)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Disorders common in east Asia according to Goljan: Hepatitis B EBV infection - mostly leading to nasopharyngeal CA Alpha Thalassemia Nitrosamine linked Intestinal type gastric CA

In this question, since the patient is asymptomatic and EBV isnt exactly "screened for", went with HepB as the answer

get full access to all contentpick a username
ls3076  i think asymptomatic is really the key here -- good catch +3



 +1  upvote downvote
submitted by nukie404(8)
get full access to all contentpick a username

To sum it up, even if you didn't memorize the whole immunization table, it's easy to remember HBV immunization is done at birth, 1mo, 2mo and 6mo roughly. Also added that the baby is of East Asian decent, and the fact that other infections on the list aren't screened for in the first place in healthy-looking patients, I think it's safe to deduce HBV was the answer here.

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +1  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—drzed(332)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Of all these viruses, Hep B is the only one that a child, if infected, would be a chronic carrier. Thus we should screen to make sure that we can prevent future risk of cirrhosis, etc.

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +0  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—skonys(58)
get full access to all contentpick a username

So are we supposed to just yolo this one? wtf

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +0  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—avicenna(12)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Good research to read over Hep-B being prevalent in china! https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-019-4428-y

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +0  upvote downvote
submitted by bilirrubin15(0)
get full access to all contentpick a username

I thought Hepatitis B has high prevalence in developing countries, she is from a rural region from China, I got right. Plus Hepatitis B is asymptomatic in new borns.

get full access to all contentpick a username



 -1  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—syoung07(58)
get full access to all contentpick a username

You must know that Hepatitis is prevalent AF in Asia.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8640098/#:~:text=Hepatitis%20B%20is%20still%20rampant,and%20hepatocellular%20carcinoma%20(HGC).

get full access to all contentpick a username



Must-See Comments from nbme23

ferrero on Precapillary resistance
yotsubato on 99%
sne on Triglyceride
sajaqua1 on Area labeled โ€˜Dโ€™ (Spinothalamic tract, right)
stinkysulfaeggs on Hypoglycemia
hayayah on Iris
soph on Peak inspiratory pressure (alveolar): ...
seagull on Area labeled โ€˜Cโ€™ (Cranial nerve 8: ...
water on Dietary change
wired-in on 28.8
beeip on Binding of permeable ligand to nuclear ...
thomasalterman on Hypoglycemia
yotsubato on Inhibition of the cytochrome P450-dependent ...
seagull on Decreased sodium bicarbonate reabsorption in ...

search for anything NEW!