This study assessed hepatitis B prevalence among pregnant women attending health care facilities in rural Bangladesh. Blood samples were collected from 480 participants. HBsAg was positive in 0.4% of subjects, anti-HBc was positive in 21.5% and anti-HBs was positive in 8.5% of subjects. HBsAg was more prevalent among the older age group. Hepatitis B has a low prevalence among pregnant women in ...

In a pilot study by field-screening in two different sauna baths, a day-sauna and a night-sauna, 318 homosexual men were investigated for syphilis and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and its antibody (anti-HBs). Of the 134 visitors to the day-sauna 35 1-o were seroreactive for syphilis, four (3%) carried HBsAg, and 95 (70' 9%) anti-HBs. Of the 184 visitors to the night-sauna 33' 2% were ser...

Wolfgang Jilg, Heléne Norder, Mark Kane, Pierre Van Damme, Alex Vorsters, on behalf of the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; 4816 W. Mercer Way, Mercer Island, Washington, USA; Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Ant...

UNLABELLED A population-based sero-epidemiological study enrolled 9486 volunteers in two governorates, Béja in the north and Tataouine in the south of Tunisia, in order to assess the magnitude of HBV transmission heterogeneity between the north and the south and within the same governorate, as well as the risk factors associated with infection and chronic carriage. RESULTS The overall prevale...

Data on the association of schistosomiasis and hepatitis B in field-based studies are scarce. Two areas have been selected for this study: i) Queixadinha, endemic for schistosomiasis, with a population of 693 individuals, and ii) Capão, a control non-endemic area, with 515 inhabitants. Sera of all individuals in both areas were tested for hepatitis B infection, yearly, from 1994 to 1997. In the...

Attempts to detect hepatitis B antigen in faeces and bile should take into account the degradation and disappearance of the surface antigens in an environment containing proteolytic enzymes in the presence of bile salts as in the intestinal lumen. The cores of the Dane particles are much more stable than the surface antigens and these may best be identified by immune electron microscopy using c...

Although liver diseases are common in Bangladesh, the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) has shown marked variation among studies and in different parts of this country.1-3 Rudra et al1 have shown that 126 of 2,015 subjects had HBV. On the contrary, Ashraf et al2 reported hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity at 0.7% individuals of Bangladesh. Mahtab et a...

Two antigenic systems of the woodchuck hepatitis virus have been identified. The relationship between viral antigens of the woodchuck hepatitis virus and the human hepatitis B virus was determined by using immunoprecipitation, hemagglutination, and immune electron microscopy techniques. Antigens found on the cores of the two viruses were cross-reactive. Lack of cross-reactivity between the surf...

background and objectives:   iranian chronic hbv carrier’s population has shown a unique pattern of genotype d distri- bution all around the country. the aim of this study was to explore more details of evolutionary history of carriers based on structural surface proteins from different provinces. materials and methods: sera obtained from 360 isolates from 12 different regions of country were u...