ABSTRACT
Los resultados de una encuesta con 7.342 muestras de sangre de 13 países y territorios de las Américas indican una elevada prevalencia de los anticuerpos contra el virus A de la hepatitis en esa Región. Los resultados señalan también una correlación significativa entre la ausencia de dichos anticuerpos y la ausencia de marcadores indicativos de infección por el virus B de la hepatitis (AU)
Subject(s)
Hepatitis A virus , Blood Donors , Argentina , Barbados , Colombia , Costa Rica , Chile , Ecuador , Mexico , Peru , Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic , Suriname , Venezuela , Epidemiology, Descriptive , BrazilABSTRACT
Los resultados de una encuesta con 7,342 muestras de sangur de 13 paises y territorios de las Americas indican una elevada prevalencia de los anticuerpos contra el virus A de la hepatitis en esa Region. Los resultados senalan tambien una correlacion significativa entre la ausencia de dichos anticuerpos y la ausencia de marcadores indicativos de infeccion por el virus B de la hepatitis
Subject(s)
Blood Donors , Hepatitis A , HepatovirusABSTRACT
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)