The Epidemiological Significance of Asymptomatic Carriers of HBsAg / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

A total of 5874 residents in Xian urban and rural districts were examin-ed for the survey of viral hepatitis in October, 1979-February, 1980. Therate of infection from the asymptomatic carriers of HBsAg was found to be5. 0% in total, being higher in the rural district than in the urban andhigher in male than in female. The rate in the carriers of 15-30 yearswas the highest of all and had a tendency to decrease in the carriers ofover 40. However, the positive rate in the carriers of 0-3 years was the low-est of all. It has been showed that the transmission of HBsAg from motherto infant might not be the main mode of spread in the districts. There wasa higher rate in the peasants and college students. All this indicated thatyoung people played a more important role in spreading the disease. As for the sources of infection, the asymptomatic carriers of HBsAgwere not only larger in amounts but more in the positive rate. The HBsAgtiter of carriers by RPHA was markedly higher than the titer of patients.With regard to the rates of HBeAg, it seems that carriers are the same withpatients. Furthermore, the carrier's household had a higher prevalence ratethan the control groups. As has been mentioned above, we considerab thatthe role of carriers as source of infection should no longer be suspected.