[Prevalence of Hepatitis B serologic markers among the personnel of the institution for children with deficiencies].
BACKGROUND
The risk of infection by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in institutions for children with deficiencies has been established in several studies. The purpose of this work was to know the prevalence of HBV markers, among the employees in an institution of that kind, and its association with several risk factors.


METHODS
A transveral epidemiologic survey has been carried out to determine the markers prevalence of infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and its association with certain risk factors, among the 200 workers of an institution for children with deficiencies. Determinations, by radioimmunoassay were: HBs Ag, anti-HBs and anti HBe.


RESULTS
The participation was 95%, with a prevalence of any marker of 7.9% (IC95 + 4.1-11.7). No HBs Ag carriers were detected, taking occupation as an indicator variable with three categories: Trades and auxiliary health personnel versus teachers, the logistic regression analysis showed odds ratios, adjusted for age, sex and working time, for trades and auxiliary health personnel, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Vaccination is the preventive recommendation for HBV in these institutions, because of the difficulty to find other factors associated to HBV. The possibility of introducing a universal vaccination is controversial.
Arnedo Pena
A
A
Sección de Epidemiología, Dirección Territorial de Sanidad de Castellón.
Cortés Edo
J M
JM
Latorre Ibáñez
M D
MD
González Morán
F
F
Bellido Blasco
J B
JB
Querol San Juan
J
J
Guillén Grima
F
F
Safont Adsuara
L
L
Calvo Mas
C
C
Monparler Carrasco
P
P
D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
Prevalencia de marcadores serológicos de la hepatitis B en el personal de una institución para niños con minusvalías.