ABSTRACT
HBV infection is a major health problem in Southeast Asia. Thailand is considered to be an endemic area of HBV infection(18). Prevalence of HBsAg carriers is 5.2 per cent in children, 9 per cent in adults and 5.6 per cent in pregnant women(19,20). We believe that the monoclonal antibody described in the present report will be useful to develop HBsAg-KIT for national serologic screening assay, as considered in terms of sensitivity, specificity and cost effectiveness.
Subject(s)
Animals , Antibodies, Monoclonal/immunology , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Hepatitis B/diagnosis , Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/immunology , Humans , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Microscopy, Electron , Sensitivity and Specificity , Serologic TestsABSTRACT
A total of 142 sporadic cases of viral hepatitis in Thailand were tested for HAV and HBV infections. Thirty nine and 58 cases were serologically found to be associated with HAV and HBV infections, respectively. The remaining 45 cases were unrelated to infection by HAV or HBV. In nine of these cases, we detected 27-32 nm virus-like particles in stools by immunoelectron microscopy using a reference serum of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis (Fausta 3/87). This finding implies that enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis is prevalent also in Thailand.
Subject(s)
Feces/microbiology , Hepatitis C/diagnosis , Humans , Microscopy, Immunoelectron/methods , Prevalence , Sensitivity and Specificity , Thailand/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Two hundred and four newborn infants of HBsAg/HBeAg carrier mothers were randomly assigned into three groups. Group A (69 infants) received full-dose HB vaccine, group B (70 infants) received half-dose HB vaccine at birth, 1 month, 3 months and group C (65 infants) were untreated control group. After twelve months follow-up the cumulative incidence of HBs antigenemia was 17.2%, 30% in group A, B respectively as compared with 78.4% in group C (p less than 0.001). The protective efficacy rates (PER) of group A and B were 78.1% and 61.7% respectively (p less than 0.05). The vaccine was also effective in preventing persistent HBsAg carriers (HBsAg positive for at least 6 months). The PER of group A and B were at least 74.9% and 49.2% respectively (p less than 0.001) at 1 year follow-up. From the practical point of view and economic reasons administration of full-dose HB vaccine give better protection to high risk infants.