Hepatitis B carrier state in young Jamaican children [abstract]

OBJECTIVE: To determine the seroprevalence of the hepatitis B carrier state in Jamaican children. METHODS: Serum specimens from 525 randomly-selected students attending one of 6 basic/pre-schools in the Kingston and St.Andrew region were tested at the MIcrobiology Laboratory of the University Hospital of the West Indies for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B antibodies. A second specimen was sent from each patient to a private laboratory where the tests were repeated and cross-checked against the results obtained from the UHWI laboratory. Demographic data concerning patients age and sex, maternal age and socio-economic status obtained from a parent interview were recorded on a pre-coded questionnare. The age of the students ranged from 3 years to 6 years with a mean age of 4 years. The male to female ratio was 2:3. Eighty percent of the mothers were under thirty-five years of age. RESULTS: The carrier state was identified in 12 percent of students. Six percent of the study sample had a reactive test for antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of hepatitis B carrier state in children under 6 years of age supports infection acquired perinatally from infected mothers. This seroprevalence rate would classify Jamaica as an area of high endemicity and further support the urgent need for a national hepatitis B screening. (AU)

Distribution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers in blood donors of 13 western hemisphere countries: proceedings of the red cross Latin American hepatitis B workshop

Report presenting the results of a study made of Hepatitis B viral markers. A total of 7.487 donor blood samples from 13 Western Hemisphere countries (Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Venezuela) were tested for various markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with several different techniques. HBsAg was detected in 1.6 per cent of the samples, anti-HBs in 20.2 per cent, and anti-HBs in 21.3 per cent. The incidence of HBsAg varied from 0.2 per cent (in Puerto Rican samples) to 4.1 per cent (in the samples from the Dominican Republic). Overall, 5.8 per cent of the samples found to contain HBsAg also contained HBeAg, while 24.8 per cent had detectable anti-HBe. Sixty-six (54.5 per cent) of the 121 HBsAg-positive samples were found to contain subtype HBsAg/ad, and 5(4.1 per cent) were found to contain subtype HBsAg/ay. Subtypes of the remaining samples could not be determined because of insufficient antigen. In a comparitive study, reverse passive hemagglutination (RPHA), counterelectrophoresis (CEP), and immunodiffusion (ID) detected by HBsAg in 90.9. 67.2, and 62.0 per cent of the samples previously found positive by radioimmunoassay (RIA) screening. Considerable variation was observed in the prevalence of HBV markers in samples from different countries, the highest prevalence being 82.8 per cent in samples from the Dominican Republic. Over-all, the findings suggest that exposure to HBV is quite extensive in some Latin American populations......(AU)