[A cross-sectional study of seroepidemiology of viral hepatitis among Uighurs in Shufu of Xinjiang].

Objective: To explore the status of seroepidemiology on hepatitis A, B and C among students and residents aged equal or greater than 18 years in south Xinjiang, and to provide scientific evidence for prevention and control of viral hepatitis. Methods: Uyghur students in four towns and villages were selected by cluster random sampling from Feb to May, 2015, and Uyghur residents aged 18 to 69 years were selected by stratified cluster sampling from May to September, 2016. 4 507 middle and primary Uygur students and 4 833 Uyghur resides equal or greater than 18 years attended this survey. Self-designed questionnaire was used to collect the demographic information. And Elisa test was adopted to detect HAV-IgG, HBsAg, HBsAb and HCV-IgG. Chi-square test was used to calculate the difference on antibody positive rate of three types of hepatitis among the participants. Results: The overall HAV-IgG positive rate was 99.45% (9 289/9 340). The positive rates were 99.70% (4 006/4 018) in male and 99.27% (5 283/5 322) in female (χ(2)=7.95, P=0.005). The HAV-IgG positive rate among people aged 10 to 14 years was the highest (99.91%, 2 233/2 235), and the difference between the age specific HAV-IgG positive rates was statistical significant (χ(2)=38.21, P<0.001). The overall HBsAg positive rate was 4.11% (384 cases), with 4.55% (183 cases) for male and 3.78% (201 cases) for female. The HBsAg positive rate among participants 19 to 24 years old was the highest (9.46%, 21/222) and the differences between the age specific HBsAg was statistically significant (χ(2)=116.22, P<0.001). The HBsAb positive rate was 35.03% (3 272 cases), with 35.59% (1 430 cases) for male and 34.61% (1 842 cases) for female, and the HBsAb positive rate among participants aged 15 to 18 years was the highest, which was 69.12% (696/1 007). The differences between the age specific HBsAb rates appeared statistically significant (χ(2)=671.80, P<0.001). The overall HCV-IgG positive rate was 0.65%(61 cases). The HCV-IgG positive rate in female was 0.86% (46 cases) and 0.37% (15 cases) in male (χ(2)=8.51, P=0.004).The HCV-IgG positive rate among participants aged over 70 years was the highest (3.78%,9/238) , and the difference between the age specific HCV-IgG positive rates had statistic significance (χ(2)=70.30, P<0.001). The HAV-IgG positive rate in hepatitis A vaccinees (100%, 876/876) was higher than that among the non-vaccinees (99.40%, 8 413/8 464) (χ(2)=4.26, P=0.039). The HBsAb positive rate in hepatitis B vaccinees was 39.32% (1 816/4 619) which was higher than that among the non-vaccinees (30.84%, 1 456/4 721) (χ(2)=73.68, P<0.001). Conclusion: The positive rate of overall HAV-IgG was high, male and participants aged between 10 to 14 had higher probability to be infected. But the infection rates of hepatitis B and C were low, with the low vaccination rate and the poor protective effectiveness of hepatitis B.

HBV infectivity among Nigerians.

The study involved 60 (non-immunized), 14 (immunized against HBV), healthy Nigerian adults and 28 Nigerian patients with hepatitis. Their sera were tested for HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc, anti-HBs and anti-HCV while only 15 subjects with chronic hepatitis had HBV DNA assay by PCR. The subjects aged 21 to 72 years and comprised 75 male and 27 female adults. The prevalence of HBV infection by HBsAg and/or anti-HBc sero-positivity was 55.9%. Only HBsAg and anti-HBs were detectable in 21% each among immunized while HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc, anti-HBs were present in 58%, 20%, 6%, 32%, and 42% respectively in the non-immunized subjects. HBV DNA was positive in 86.7% of the 15 subjects. About fifty five percent of all subjects were infectious of HBV with 13.7%, 3.9%. 32.3% and 4.9% accounting for high, medium, low and very low infectivity respectively while 44.1% and 1% of the subjects were susceptible and naturally immuned to HBV respectively. Coinfection with HCV tends to favour HBV infectivity. In conclusion, the infectivity of HBV among Nigeria is varied but high and a great proportion of the population is susceptible.

Hepatitis A, B and C viral co-infections among HIV-infected adults presenting for care and treatment at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Tanzania is currently scaling-up access to anti-retro viral therapy (ART) to reach as many eligible persons as possible. Hepatitis viral co-infections are known to influence progression, management as well as outcome of HIV infection. However, information is scarce regarding the prevalence and predictors of viral hepatitis co-infection among HIV-infected individuals presenting at the HIV care and treatment clinics in the country. METHODS: A cross-sectional study conducted between April and September 2006 enrolled 260 HIV-1 infected, HAART naïve patients aged > or = 18 years presenting at the HIV care and treatment clinic (CTC) of the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). The evaluation included clinical assessment and determination of CD4+ T-lymphocyte count, serum transaminases and serology for Hepatitis A, B and C markers by ELISA. RESULTS: The prevalence of anti HAV IgM, HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM and anti-HCV IgG antibodies were 3.1%, 17.3%, 2.3% and 18.1%, respectively. Dual co-infection with HBV and HCV occurred in 10 individuals (3.9%), while that of HAV and HBV was detected in two subjects (0.8%). None of the patients had all the three hepatitis viruses. Most patients (81.1%) with hepatitis co-infection neither had specific clinical features nor raised serum transaminases. History of blood transfusion and jaundice were independent predictors for HBsAg and anti-HBc IgM positivity, respectively. CONCLUSION: There is high prevalence of markers for hepatitis B and C infections among HIV infected patients seeking care and treatment at MNH. Clinical features and a raise in serum alanine aminotransferase were of limited predictive values for the viral co-infections. Efforts to scale up HAART should also address co-infections with Hepatitis B and C viruses.

[Hepatitis viruses infection situation in Mianyang of the Sichuan province].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the seroprevalence of hepatitis viruses in Mianyang of the Sichuan province. METHODS: EIISA was used for detecting anti-HAV IgG, HBsAg/HBsAb, anti-HCV IgG and anti-HEV IgG of the serum samples. All sample were collected in Mianyang areas in 2007. RESULTS: 1352 samples were detected. The positive rates of anti-HAV, HBsAg/HBsAb, anti-HCV,and anti-HEV are 81.07% (1096/1352), 5.40% (73/1352) and 61.32% (829/1352), 0.37% (5/1352) and 49.26% (666/1352), respectively. The positive rate at different age group, for anti-HAV was 38.21% of 10-19 years old, 83% of 20-29 years old, 88% of 30-39 years old, 95.03% of 40-49 years old, 97% of 50-59 years old, 97.77% of 60-69 years old, 97.52% of > or =70 years old. For HBsAg/HBsAb were 5.65% or 50.83%, 10.0% or 68.0%, 5.20% or 78.80%, 5.97% or 78.11%, 6.50% or 62.50%, 1.12% or 51.40%, 4.96% or 30.58% at the same age group, respectively,for anti-HCV, was 0.33% of 10-19 years old, 0.80% of 30-39 years, 0.56% of 60-69 years old, 0.83% of > or =70 years old.For HEV-IgG was 26.58% of 10-19 years old, 42.0% of 20-29 years old, 55.22%-61.0% of 30-> or =70 years old, for anti-HEV IgM, was 10.06% (53/527) in the positive samples of HEV-IgG. CONCLUSION: The inoculation againt HAV and HBV is enhanced in the young population. HBsAg carrier and HCV infection is decreasing. The HEV infection is actually increasing.

Prevalence of hepatitis A, B, C and E virus in adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus.

UNLABELLED: The hypothesis for this study was that hepatitis virus infection could be associated with diabetes, because of the high frequency of injections. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of hepatitis A, B, C and E viruses in type-1 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Sixty-three patients with the diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 63 healthy controls were included in this study. Serological markers of four different types of hepatitis (Anti-HAV IgM, total, anti-HAV, HbsAg, anti-HBs, total anti-HBc, antiHBc IgM, anti-HCV and anti-HEV) were studied in all cases. None of the patients had a history of previous icterus or other signs of hepatitis, had received blood transfusions, or were on hemodialysis. RESULTS: There was no difference between the patients and controls with respect to hepatitis A, B, C and E virus serology. The rate of seropositivity of patients within a month of the diagnosis was smaller than those of the patients whose diagnosis were older than one month, but the difference was not found to be statistically significant (p > 0.05). Moreover, hepatitis virus infections did not seem to be related to duration of disease, nor age of onset, ketoacidosis, HbA1c, and insulin regimen. All of the sera were negative for anti-HCV in both patients and controls. CONCLUSION: Serological evidence of previous HAV, HBV, HCV and HEV infections was not significantly different between type-1 diabetes patients and healthy controls. Hepatitis virus infection was not associated with diabetes in spite of the high frequency of injections.

Evaluation of a multiple peptide assay for typing of antibodies to the hepatitis C virus: relation to genomic typing by the polymerase chain reaction.

A panel of 16 type-specific synthetic peptides corresponding to variable antigenic regions within the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core, nonstructural 4 (NS4), and NS5 proteins was synthesised. The peptide panel was used to develop an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of antibodies directed to HCV type 1 (genotypes I/1a and II/1b), type 2 (genotypes III/2a and IV/2b), and type 3 (genotype V/3). The peptides corresponded to residues 68-81 of the HCV core (types 1, 2, and 3), residues 1692-1705 and 1710-1728 of HCV NS4 (types 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 3), and residues 2303-2319 of HCV NS5 (types 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b). The 16-peptide panel was evaluated using human sera from 46 carriers of HCV, which were genotyped in parallel by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers specific for types I, II, III, IV, and V of HCV core. Of the 46 carriers, 14 (30%) were infected by HCV genotype I, 7 (15%) by genotype II, 16 (35%) by HCV genotype IV, and 6 (13%) by HCV of genotype V. Two carriers had double infections of types I and II, and the HCV strain of one carrier could not be genotyped. Using the serotyping system, 40 (89%) out of the 45 genotyped carriers were found to contain type-specific antibodies corresponding to the genotypes identified by PCR. In 5 of the 23 carriers infected by genotypes I and/or II, antibodies specific for HCV type 1 could not be detected, whereas all 16 carriers infected by genotype IV were serologically typed as type 2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Comparison of class and subclass distribution of antibodies to the hepatitis B core and B e antigens in chronic hepatitis B.

The IgG subclasses IgM and IgA1 of antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B e antigen (anti-HBe) were assayed in sera from 82 patients with chronic hepatitis B utilising class/subclass-specific enzyme immunoassays (EIA). The solid-phase was either recombinant hepatitis B core antigen (rHBcAg) or rHBcAg converted to HBeAg by addition of 0.1% SDS with remaining HBcAg antigenicity blocked with monoclonal anti-HBc. Anti-HBc IgG1 was detected in 81 sera at a geometrical mean titre (GMT) of 296,110 x divided by 2.9. Anti-HBc IgG2 was not detected in any of the sera, and anti-HBc IgG3 and IgG4 were detected in 50 and 37 sera, respectively. Anti-HBc IgM and IgA1 were both significantly correlated to the presence of HBV DNA. The predominant antibody to HBeAg was found to be IgG1, being detected in 45 sera with a GMT of 1,035 x divided by 3.3. Anti-HBe IgG2 was not detected in any serum, while anti-HBe IgG3 and IgG4 were found in 8 and 23 sera, respectively. Anti-HBe IgG1, IgG3, and IgG4 were mainly detected in sera positive for anti-HBe in RIA (Abbott). No patient was found positive for anti-HBe IgA1 or IgM. Thus, in contrast to HBcAg, HBeAg does not trigger a persistent IgM and IgA1 response in chronic hepatitis B. The levels of anti-HBe IgG1 and IgG3 were much lower than the levels of anti-HBc IgG1 and IgG3. The presence of anti-HBe IgG4 was significantly correlated to that of anti-HBc IgG4.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)