title: Hepatitis B infection in Bangladeshi mothers and infants.
abstract: In order to estimate the relative importance of perinatal transmission of hepatitis B in rural Bangladesh a cross-sectional study was carried out. Paired-serum samples of infants aged 2-8 months old, a group of new born, and their mothers were tested for hepatitis B markers using a commercial ELISA test kit. In total, 107 (32.4%) positive for HBcAg, 18 (5.4%) for HBsAg, and 4 (1.2%) for HbeAg. Of the infants, 35 (10.5%) positive for HBcAg, 1 (0.3%) for HBsAg, and none for HBeAg. Of the 18 HBsAg positive mothers, 4 (22%) were HBeAg positive. All 14 children of mothers who were HBeAg negative were negative for HBsAg. Only one out of four (25%) of children of HBeAg positive mothers were HBsAg carriers (8 months old), and in three children transmission did not occur (two 8 months, one 6 months old). This survey indicates that hepatitis B is prevalent in rural Bangladesh and that the perinatal transmission mode may be relatively low.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Sciences Division, International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Francisco
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hawkes
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Azim
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008423:Maternal Age; D015995:Prevalence