Increase in susceptibility of young adults to hepatitis B infection in the Republic of Yemen

Sallam, Talal A., Cuevas, Luis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6581-0587 and Tong, C. Y. William (2003) 'Increase in susceptibility of young adults to hepatitis B infection in the Republic of Yemen'. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol 97, Issue 3, pp. 302-304.

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Abstract

Susceptibility to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among 987 young adult male blood donors in 2 major Yemeni cities was investigated. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was detected in 10.8% (107/987) of donors and 284 (28.8%) had evidence of ongoing or past HBV infection. Hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) only was detected in 34 (3.4%) donors. Thus, 67.8% (669/987) of donors had no detectable HBV-markers indicating susceptibility to infection. The proportion of HBV-susceptible donors decreased from 70.9% (249/351) in donors aged < 25 years to 69.4% (334/481) in those aged 25-34 years and 55.5% (86/155) in donors aged > 34 years (P = 0.002). The high proportion of susceptible young adults in a community with a high HBsAg carrier rate could be the result of changing epidemiology of hepatitis B in Yemen. Consideration should therefore be given to immunizing young adults as an adjunct to the current expanded infant immunization programme.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. Other Virus Diseases > WC 536 Human viral hepatitis
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/s0035-9203(03)90151-9
Depositing User:	Lynn Roberts-Maloney
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2013 11:00
Last Modified:	22 Nov 2024 08:48
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/2669

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