Prevention of hepatitis B infection: the appropriate strategy for India.
Hepatitis B infection is a major global health problem with a high morbidity and mortality. With safe and effective vaccines available, it is now possible to prevent it. Many countries have started national hepatitis B control programmes but no attempt has been made to do this in our country. An analysis of the available data on the epidemiology of hepatitis B infection in India reveals that perinatal maternofoetal transmission accounts for only a minority of hepatitis B virus carriers in India. Therefore, a policy of screening pregnant mothers for the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen and selective immunization of babies born to those who are surface antigen positive will have very little effect on the hepatitis B carrier rate in our population. Universal immunization of all newborns will have a much greater impact, it will be logistically simpler and more cost-effective--the cost of preventing one hepatitis B carrier being nearly one-fourth of that with selective immunization. We recommend that hepatitis B vaccine should be included in our country's expanded programme of immunization.
Aggarwal
R
R
Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Naik
S R
SR
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000191:economics; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines