Anti-HBV immunoglobulin combined with hepatitis B vaccine in preventing intrauterine infection of HBV

AIM: To evaluate the potency of different methods in blocking HBV transmission from mother to the infants. METHODS: One hundred and twenty HBsAg/HBeAg positive pregnant women were assigned to three groups, of whom 42 pregnant women in group A were treated with HBV immune globulin combined with hepatitis B vaccine, 40 pregnant women in group B were treated with hepatitis B vaccine only, and 38 pregnant women in group C received no treatment. Pregnant women in group A and in group B were subjected to treatment from the 20 th week of gestation. ELISA method was used to detect the serum HBV biomarkers of pregnant women and serum HBsAg of the infants. RESULTS : The HBV infection rates of infants were 7% (3/42), 30% (12/40) and 37% (14/38) in group A, group B and group C respectively. The HBV infection rate of infants in group A was significantly lower than that in group B and in group C (P0.01). CONCLUSION: Pregnant women carrying with hepatitis B virus treated with hepatitis B immune globulin combined with hepatitis B vaccine can significantly decrease their infants' HBV infection rate, indicating that prophylaxis therapy can effectively block the HBV intrauterine transmission.