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BackgroundTransient elastography (TE) is an innovative, noninvasive technique to assess liver fibrosis by measuring liver stiffness in patients with chronic liver diseases. The purpose of this study has been to explore the accuracy of TE and clinical parameters in predicting the presence of esophageal/gastric varices in children with biliary atresia (BA) following portoenterostomy.MethodsPatients with BA status post portoenterostomy and normal children were recruited. Splenomegaly and presence of EV/GV were determined by physical examination and endoscopy, respectively. Aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (APRI) was used as a serum fibrosis marker. TE was performed by using FibroScan. Data was expressed as mean ± SD.ResultsSeventy-three BA patients (male:female = 32:41; age 9.11 ± 5.64 years) and 50 normal controls (male:female = 19:31; age 11.00 ± 3.31 years) were enrolled. The liver stiffness score of BA patients was significantly higher than that of normal controls (27.37 ± 22.48 and 4.69 ± 1.03 kPa; p < 0.001). Patients with EV/GV had significantly higher liver stiffness score and APRI than those without EV/GV. As for EV/GV diagnosis, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.89 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.98) for TE and 0.87 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.96) for APRI, respectively. The sensitivity (and specificity) of TE (using a cut-off value of 12.7 kPa) and APRI (using a cut-off value of 1.92) in predicting EV/GV were 84% (77%) and 84% (83%), respectively, whereas the sensitivity (and specificity) of splenomegaly in predicting EV/GV were 92% (85%).ConclusionsTransient elastography is a useful tool for predicting the presence of EV/GV. In addition, basic physical examination, routine biochemical and hematological tests, are still worthwhile and correlate well with the presence of EV/GV in patients with BA post portoenterostomy.

SummaryVaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) immediately after birth prevents neonatal infection by vertical transmission from HBV carrier mothers. There is an ongoing debate whether infant vaccination is sufficient to protect against infection when exposed to HBV later in life. We studied 222 Thai infants born to HBsAg −/+ and HBeAg −/+ mothers who were vaccinated with recombinant hepatitis B vaccine at 0-1-2-12 months of age. A subset of 100 subjects received a booster dose at age 5 years. Blood samples collected yearly for 20 years were examined for anti-HBs antibodies and serological markers of hepatitis B infection (anti-HBc, HBsAg, and in selected cases HBeAg, anti-HBe, HBV DNA). During the 20-year follow-up, no subject acquired new chronic HBV infection or clinical hepatitis B disease. During the first decade, possible subclinical breakthrough HBV infection (anti-HBc seroconversion) was only observed in subjects born to HBsAg +/HBeAg + mothers (6/49 [12.2%]). During the second decade, breakthrough HBV infections were detected in all groups (18/140 [12.8%]). Increases in anti-HBs concentrations that were unrelated to additional HBV vaccination or infection were detected in approximately 10% of subjects in each decade. Primary infant vaccination with a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine confers long-term protection against clinical disease and new chronic hepatitis B infection despite confirmed hepatitis B exposure. (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00240500 and NCT00456625)

Summaryobjectives To evaluate the impact of the universal hepatitis B (HB) vaccination programme on the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers and immunity to HB virus infection among children <18 years and to determine the HB seroprevalence in the Thai population.methods We enrolled people in four provinces, including Chiangrai, Udon Thani, Chonburi and Nakhon Si Thammarat to geographically represent populations in the North, Northeast, Center and South of the country respectively. Serology for HBsAg, anti-hepatitis B surface (anti-HBs), and antihepatitis B core (anti-HBc) was tested using ELISA commercial kits. In total, 6213 subjects aged 6 months to 60 years from the four provincial hospitals and two to three district hospitals of each participating province participated.results Overall HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc seropositive rates amounted to 4%, 41.6% and 26.5% respectively. Of 2887 participants aged 6 months to 18 years, 2303 were born after (group I) and 584 prior to (group II) HB vaccine integration into the expanded programme on immunization of each participating province. The HBsAg seropositive rate was 0.7% among group I children and 4.3% among group II children. The prevalence rate of anti-HBc was 2.9% in group I and 15.8% in group II. In children under 18 years, the HBsAg carrier rate was 0.98% among complete vaccinees and 1.36% among participants without vaccination.conclusions This finding supports the efficacy of universal HB immunization in reducing the prevalence of HB infection in Thailand which is a highly endemic country.keywords seroprevalence, hepatitis B virus infection, hepatitis B vaccine, Thailand

Improvements in sanitation and socio-economic status as well as the implementation of hepatitis B vaccine in the Extended Programme on Immunization (EPI) are likely to be the reasons for the observed absence of AHF caused by hepatitis A and B. The study showed that dengue infection, on the other hand, was a major cause of AHF in Thailand.