Sero-epidemiological Study on Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Guangdong Province

Objective To understand the infection status of hepatitis B in Guangdong province and to evaluate the effects of immunization strategy of hepatitis B vaccine.Methods A multi-stage cluster-randomized sampling was designed to survey 3 927 people aged 1-59 years in 6 counties of the province.The HBsAg,anti-HBs and anti-HBc were tested with ELISA reagent.The vaccination coverage rate of hepatitis B for 1-14 year-old children was investigated.Results Among the population aged 1-59 years in Guangdong province,the standardized positive rates of HBsAg,anti-HBs,anti-HBc and the standardized infection rate of HBV were 15.46%,61.51%,49.46% and 66.20%,respectively.The positive rate of HBsAg and the infection rate of HBV for children aged 1-14 years were significantly lower than those for the age-group of 15-59.For 1-4 year-old children,the positive rate of HBsAg and the infection rate of HBV were significantly lower than those for 5-14 year-old population,but the positive rate of anti-HBs was higher distinctly.For the positive rates of HBsAg and the infection rates of HBV,the male′s rates were higher than female′s and the rates of the rural population were higher than those of the urban population.The positive rate of anti-HBs for the urban population was higher than that of the rural population.The vaccination coverage rate,full course vaccination rate and timely first-dose vaccination rate of hepatitis B vaccine for 1-4 year old children were 91.90%,89.01% and 58.38%,respectively,which were higher than those of the age-group of 5-14.Conclusion Since hepatitis B vaccine was introduced into the Expanded Program on Immunization(EPI) in 1992,the prevalent rates of HBsAg and HBV infection for 1-14 year-old population,especially among the age-group of 1-4,had declined obviously,but HBV infection was still a disease of high endemicity in Guangdong province.