OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine used in endemic areas of Colombia, as well as risk factors associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and carriage after vaccine introduction. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out in urban and rural areas of the Colombian Amazon, a highly endemic area for hepatitis B infection. Children under 12 yea...

AIM To investigate whether HLA class I polymorphisms could influence the clearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Qidong Han population. METHODS We genotyped HLA-A, -B, and -C loci of 448 individuals with HBV persistent infection and 140 persons with spontaneous clearance of HBsAg by polymerase chain reaction with sequencing based typing (PCR/SBT). All the individuals were unrelate...

The woodchuck hepatitis virus is a naturally occurring hepatitis B-like virus that infects the eastern woodchuck. Direct immunofluorescence staining for woodchuck hepatitis virus core antigen in liver biopsies demonstrated the presence of this antigen in 14 of 17 chronically infected woodchucks, and in 8 of 10 woodchucks undergoing acute infections. Fluorescent localization of woodchuck hepatit...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to evaluate a community based programme of antenatal screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and selective immunization of children commencing at birth, at a secondary care hospital in south India. The primary objective was to assess immunization coverage among children born to HBsAg positive women; secondary objectives were to study t...

Background: Hepatitis B is an important infectious disease.  Since several years ago, mass vaccination against this viral infection has become as part of routine vaccination schedule of Iran.  However, some healthy neonates, children and adults fail to generate a protective antibody response after vaccination.Objectives: To investigate distribution of HLA class-I and class-II antigens in health...

The information about HBsAg carriage rate in children is scanty worldwide. There are few reports which suggest that chronic vimemia may be high in the developing countries. The majority ofHBV carriers acquire infection before the age of 6 years and 25-30% of them will eventually die of chronic liverdisease orlivercancer. Data on the status of HBV carriage rate in Pakistani children is scarce th...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic infections remain a considerable health problem worldwide. The standard therapies have demonstrated limited efficacy, side effects or need life-long treatments. Nowadays therapeutic vaccination is a promising option. Recently, we developed a new vaccine formulation called Nasvac, based on the combination of surface and core antigens from HBV. Clinical trials alre...

  Background and Objective: Presence of hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) in the absence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) is defined, as isolated anti-HBc. little is known about the clinical significance of the isolated anti-HBc in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. The aim of this study was to assess the significance of anti-HBc as the onl...

Ninety-five health care workers and 91 controls were screened for seromarkers of both HBV (HBsAg, HBeAg, Anti-HBc) and HCV (anti-HCV) by ELISA. The control group showed a much higher frequency of seromarkers for both the viruses. HBsAg was positive in 5% of study group (health care personnel) and 14% of controls. Anti-HBc as a marker of past HBV-exposure was positive in 28% of study group as co...

Eight infants who developed HBsAg aged between 1 and 5 months were identified in the greater Copenhagen area during the period 1970--76. 7 had acquired the infection from their mothers and one had received a HBsAg-positive blood infusion, 3 infants had a transient infection lasting 2 to 8 months while the remaining cases developed persistent antigenaemia with evidence of minor liver dysfunction...