Screening hepatitis B virus in pilot recruitment and its significance

Objective To conclude the characters of serum marker pattern and distribution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in pilot candidates and to investigate the value of applying polymerase chain reaction (PCR),fluorescent probe and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in screening hepatitis B virus for pilot recruitment. Methods Three thousand eight hundred and forty-three students were chosen as subjects and were divided into 2 age groups by the birth year of 1992.They were also grouped by where they come from-rural and urban group.Hepatitis B serum marker was qualitatively measured by ELISA upon hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg),hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb),hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg),hepatitis B e antibody (HBeAb) and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb).HBV-DNA was then quantitatively determined for 365 cases with different patterns [except HBsAb( +)] that were screened according to the table of random number. Results ① There were totally 13 serological patterns of HBV.The most common pattern was HBsAb(+),then the patterns along descending sequence were the negative in all 5 HBV serum makers,HBsAb (+) & HBcAb (+),HBsAb (+) & HBeAb (+) & HBcAb (+),and HBcAb (+).Positive HBsAg was mainly expressed as HBsAg (+) & HBeAg (+) & HBcAb (+) (38.75％ ),and HBsAg (+) & HBeAb (+) & HBcAb (+) (46.25％).② The rate of screening the patterns of HBsAb ( +),HBsAb (+) & HBeAb ( +),and HBcAb (+) showed statistical significance between age groups(x2 =9.350,8.563,P＜0.01),but for the other patterns (P＞0.05).③ Except for the patterns of HBsAb (+) &HBeAb (+) & HBcAb (+) and HBcAb (+) the screening rate of other 5 patterns showed significant difference between rural and urban groups (x2=4.592 ～ 34.838,P＜0.01 or P＜0.05 ).④ The cases of having virus ＞1000 copies/ml by quantitative measurement of HBV-DNA were 62.Among which,HBsAg (+) took 77.42％ while other patterns accounted 22.58％.The detection rate of HBsAg (+) & HBeAg (+) & HBcAb (+) by means of HBV-DNA was 95.45％ (21/22) and the virus load was from 9.16×106 to 9.81×107 copies/ml.45.71％(16/35) HBsAg (+) & HBeAb (+) & HBcAb (+) was detected by HBV-DNA and the virus load was from 1.24 × 104 to 7.95 × 105 copies/ml.All HBsAg (+) & HBeAg (+) could be detected by HBV-DNA and virus load was from 2.39 × 107 to 5.34 × 107 copies/ml. Conclusions Combining the detection of HBV serum marker by ELISA and PCR quantitive measurement of HBV-DNA would be helpful to reduce the misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis of HBV in pilot recruitment. Key words: Hepatitis B virus;  Biological marker;  DNA, viral;  Physical examination; Personnel selection