https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31785059 Hepatitis B

J Viral Hepat. 2019 Nov 29. doi: 10.1111/jvh.13242. [Epub ahead of print]
Young Chinese children without seroprotective hepatitis B surface antibody could be at risk of hepatitis B virus infection through horizontal transmission.
Pan XB1, Yu J2, Li HJ1, Wu N3, Zhang GW1, Wu T3, Liao JY4, Liu WP5, Qu XW5, Si P6, Shi WY7, Li ST7, Lv X8, Liu P8, Zhao R9, Song YJ9, Yang Z10, Mo WN10, Wang HZ11, Liu YF12, Zhou ZW12, Ge LY13, Zhu H13, Zheng YQ14, Zhang WL15, Yang ZL16, Zheng XQ2.

Abstract

Mother-to-child transmission within the perinatal period was the major route of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Chinese children, which has been efficiently prevented by injection of hepatitis B vaccine and immunoglobulin. However, the properties of HBV transmission at present remain unclear. Data of 59,912 Chinese children aged 1-15 years from 12 regions were collected. The age- and regional-specific distributions of HBV seromarkers and their correlations with local per capita disposable income and mean annual temperature were analyzed. The parents of children with positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were surveyed for the potential infection source. The average prevalence of HBsAg was 0.31% in the children. HBsAg prevalence was less than 0.1% in children aged 1-2 years and increased during the age of 2 to 6 years, which correlated with the decline of the hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb)-positive rate in the duration. Local per capita disposable incomes correlated with the HBsAb-positive rates in children aged 1 year, but it did not correlate with the risk of HBV infection and the average HBsAb-positive rate. However, local mean average temperatures correlated with HBsAg prevalence in children aged 6 years. Most of the HBsAg-positive children were born in HBV-carrier families. Horizontal transmission is emerging as a noteworthy route of HBV infection in young children without seroprotective HBsAb. A booster vaccination would be needed to prevent horizontal transmission to young childrenliving with HBV infected family members.