Baseline seroepidemiology of hepatitis B virus infection in children in Taipei, 1984: A study just before mass hepatitis B vaccination program in Taiwan

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers were studied by radioimmunoassays in serum samples of 1,200 (647 male, 553 female) apparently healthy children under 15 years of age in Taipei between June and October 1984. The prevalence rate of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was 5.1% in infancy, increased to 10.7% between 1 and 2 years of age, and then remained constant at about 10% thereafter. The prevalence rate of surface antibody (anti-HBs), core antibody (anti-HBc), and seropositivity (at least one marker of hepatitis B detectable) were 39.0, 30.5, and 52.5%, respectively, in infancy, then decreased to 10.7, 14.3, and 17.9%, respectively, between 1 and 2 years of age. Thereafter, the antibody prevalence increased in parallel with age. By the age of 13-14 years, nearly half of the children were infected by HBV. The results suggested that in our children, most HBsAg carriers resulted from infections before 3 years of age, and HBV infections after 3 years of age infrequently resulted in a carrier state. One hundred (83.3%) of the 120 HBsAg-positive children had hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), indicating high prevalence in young asymptomatic HBsAg carriers. The prevalence rate of HBeAg tended to decrease with age and a reversed trend was observed with anti-HBe. Our study, just before our government extends mass hepatitis B vaccination program from newborns to children, provides background seroepidemiologic data of HBV infections in the healthy children in Taiwan.

Intrahepatic HCV RNA Level and Genotype 1 Independently Associate with Hepatic Reticulon 3 Expression

“…The majority of patients are infected by the age of 3 through perinatal transmission (25,26). However, HBV-infected persons rarely progress into a chronic status if the infection occurs after the age of 3 (21). Therefore, the cases with occult HBV infection included in this study were probably chronic HBV carriers superinfected by HCV, resulting in loss of HBV surface antigen (27).…”

“…Patients with anti-HCV seropositive tissues and detectable HCV RNA for more than 24 weeks were identified as infected with chronic HCV. The occult HBV infection was defined as the persistence of HBV genomes in the blood or liver of individuals with negative serum HBsAg testing (21). Clinicopathological parameters were recorded, including gender, age, HBsAg, alcohol usage, clinical cirrhosis, Edmondson's histology grade, microvascular invasion, macrovascular invasion, presence of tumor capsule, number of tumors, largest tumor size (in diameter) and AFP.…”

Fighting against viral hepatitis: Lessons from Taiwan

“…The HBsAg carrier rate in the children of Taipei City decreased from 11% in 1984 46 to approximately 1% in 1989, 47 1994, 48 1999, 49 and 2004. 50 Results of the 2009 survey showed this figure to be 0.9%, and the decrease in the population has extended to adults 25 years of age (unpublished results).…”

Prevention of Hepatitis B

“…We conducted serial seroepidemiologic surveys of HBV markers before and 5, 10, 15, and 20 years after the implementation of the vaccination program in Taipei, Taiwan (Hsu et al 1986;Chen et al 1996;Ni et al 2001Ni et al , 2007Ni et al , 2012. The HBsAg carrier rate decreased steadily from 10% before the vaccination program to 0.6% -0.7% afterward in vaccinated children younger than 20 yr of age.…”