Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C infection markers among children and adolescents in the southern Brazilian region

Abstract

Dear Editor, I read with interest the article published by LIVRAMENTO et al. 3 in your journal recently. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most common infectious diseases globally 1 . HBV vaccination has changed the epidemiology in most countries in the world 2 . LIVRAMENTO et al. 3 reported the prevalence of HBsAg 0.76% and total anti-HBc 1.02%, respectively and the copositivity between HBsAg and total anti-HBc was verified in 0.76% of the analyzed samples. I would like to add some information regarding this subject.First of all I would like to draw the readers' attention to the fact that in Brazil, prevalence of HBV is much higher than reported by LIVRAMENTO et al. 3,5 . However, it cannot be denied that the introduction of HBV vaccination in 1996 as a National Immunization Program in Brazil could impact the prevalence of the disease. To find the impact of HBV vaccination in the Brazilian community, in this study it was necessary to know the age of the infected cases 4 . There were three cases with HBs Ag positivity, therefore we assume that they had been born before the introduction of the national immunization program in Brazil. It is recommended that the study be continued or be carried out in other parts of the country, to see if the result will be different. HBV is more common in people like prisoners 6 and knowing the risk factors of the infected ones can help the policy makers to better design the strategies to control HBV infection in the community 1 . Intensifying HB vaccination of high risk groups and surveillance of hepatitis B infected subjects will further decrease the frequency of the disease in Brazil.Fortunately no Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected cases were reported by LIVRAMENTO et al. which confirms that the risk factors for acquiring HCV in the Brazilian population is not high enough to detect the HCV infection in their study group.

Hepatitis B Virus Infection; A Vanishing Disease in Iranian Children

“…This study provided enough data to show that the HBV vaccination alone significantly decreased the rate of transmission of HBV infection from infected mothers to their infants, but it was not adequate. This study forced us to see the necessity of implementing maternal screening for HBV infection, and to add hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) to the HBV vaccination programs (8).…”