Impact of the Expanded Program of Immunization against hepatitis B infection in school children in Malaysia

Abstract

The implementation of the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) in 1989 has dramatic impact on hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in school children in Malaysia. A cross-sectional seroprevalence study of HBV infection in 190,077 school children aged 7-12 years from 1997 to 2003 showed a steady decline of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) prevalence rate from 2.5% for children born in 1985 to 0.4% among school children born in 1996. The overall prevalence of HBsAg was 0.6%, 0.7% in males and 0.6% in females. Over 92.7% of school children had been vaccinated with HBV vaccine, in which 93.7% were vaccinated under the EPI and 6.3% on voluntary basis. The school children vaccinated under EPI had a 0.4% HBsAg carrier rate, which was significantly lower than school children vaccinated on a voluntary basis (HBsAg carrier rate 1.3%) and non-vaccinated school children (HBsAg carrier rate 2.7%), suggesting that HBV vaccination of infants was the most effective measure in preventing vertical transmission of HBV in the hyperendemic region.

Immune response in infants after universal hepatitis B vaccination: a community-based study in Malaysia

“…(9) Universal hepatitis B immunisation of newborns has been implemented in Malaysia since 1989. (10) Since then, there has been a steady decline in the seroprevalence of HBsAg -from 2.5% for children born in 1985 (four years before universal immunisation) to 0.4% among school children born in 1996. (10) The results of the present study show that universal hepatitis B vaccination of newborns in Malaysia is highly successful.…”

Strategies for Global Prevention of Hepatitis B Virus Infection

“…In the Gambia, since the introduction of the universal infant immunization program, childhood HBsAg prevalence decreased from 10 to 0.6% (Whittle et al, 1995;Viviani et al, 1999). In Malaysia, since implementation of a universal infant program in 1990, HBsAg seroprevalence in 7-to 12-year-old children decreased from 1.6% in 1997 to 0.3% in 2003 (Ng et al, 2005). Since the start of the infant hepatitis B vaccination program in 1991, recent data in Hawaii show a reduction of 97% in the prevalence of HbsAg.…”

Hepatocellular carcinoma in Asia: Prevention strategy and planning

“…In Taiwan due immunization program of HBV, the percentage of HBV-related HCC in children and adolescents decreased [38,39] . In Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, the prevalence of HBV infection in children have declined since the beginning of the vaccination [40,41] . Iran is located in low risk area and characterized as low incidence rate of HCC (< 5 per 100000) [42] .…”