Hepatitis B seroprevalence in children and women and the impact of the hepatitis B vaccination program in the Black Sea Region of Turkey.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in children and females in the middle Black Sea Region of Turkey and to assess the impact of the universal infant hepatitis B vaccination program started in 1998. METHODOLOGY: The laboratory records of 12,057 patients who attended the Samsun Maternity and Children's Hospital between January 2007 and November 2009 were evaluated retrospectively. In this period, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), the antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs), was studied from serum samples using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method. RESULTS: In the total population, HBsAg seropositivity was found to be 3.8% (456/12010); anti-HBs was 32.6% (3526/10800). HBsAg was 3.5%, in the 0-14 year age group, 8.2% in the 15-18 group, 3.3% in the 19-49 group, and 8.0% in the over 49 group. The seropositivity of HBsAg decreased by half in patients between zero and 14 years of age (4.2%) who were included in the universal vaccination program when compared with those in the 15-18 year group (8.2%) who were not included in the program. There was a significant difference in HBsAg seropositivity between boys (5.8%) and girls (3.9%) (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the hepatitis B seroprevalence records of our region, HBsAg was 3.5% in the 0-14 year age group, 8.2% in the 15-18 year group. It may therefore be suggested that, since 1998, the vaccination program in our region has been successful.

Hallucination development with montelukast in a child with asthma: case presentation.

Leukotriene receptor antagonists(montelukast) have been used for many years in the treatment of asthma both acute and chronic stages. They are accepted commonly as safe but mostly possible side effects are ignored. However, montelukast also could lead to important adverse reactions like hallucinations. In literature only 2 reports have been found about hallucinations with it. One is a study which reports 3 patients from 48 children and the other is a 29 year-old case report. In our case, psychiatric adverse reactions of montelukast,especially hallucinations are reported similarly. We are presenting a child who had visual hallucinations after starting to use montekulast and after stopping the medicine these complaints disappeared in 48 hours. Although it is a safe drug, it should not be forgotten that it has psychiatric side effects which may be missed easily especially in children.