title: Changing aetiologic patterns of acute viral hepatitis in Taiwanese children.
abstract: During 1981-86, 76 children were diagnosed as having acute viral hepatitis at the Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, which is a major referral centre for hepatitis in children in northern Taiwan. The majority (64%) of children had acute hepatitis B which had occurred mainly during infancy. Perinatal transmission from a hepatitis B e negative surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier mother or infection through blood transfusion from a donor who had escaped notice by a less sensitive screening test (reverse passive haemagglutination test) for HBsAg were the two important modes of transmission of hepatitis B virus. The number of cases of acute hepatitis B declined after 1984, with the beginning of the nation-wide hepatitis B vaccination programme. Due to an outbreak of hepatitis A in northern Taiwan in 1982, the number of cases of hepatitis A peaked that year. Subsequently, cases of acute hepatitis A decreased remarkably. Better socio-economic conditions and improved hygiene might have contributed to the marked decrease of viral hepatitis A. The frequency of non-A, non-B hepatitis remained stable during the study period. It is possible to conclude that the aetiologic pattern of acute hepatitis in Taiwanese children changed during the past 6 years: clinical cases of hepatitis A and B decreased, probably because of more effective control of hepatitis A and B virus infections, whereas the control of non-A, non-B virus apparently requires further efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines