Intrafamilial occurrence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the profile of liver disease in close relatives of patients with HBV infection

Conclusion: The occurrence of hepatitis B positivity among family members of HBsAg-positive patients was 14.53% in our study. This prevalence was twenty-eight times more than the community prevalence of HBV infection in our population, which was earlier found to be 0.52% by our group. Brothers and sisters were the most commonly affected group, as against mothers who were positive for HBsAg, only 11.3%. Hence, the infection among siblings and parents may also be due to horizontal transmission. Index cases of 16.79% were totally reluctant for family screening due to various reasons like social stigma, high cost of the investigations, and reluctance to believe that they were having a problem, because they were asymptomatic. In view of the very high occurrence of HBV infection in family members, there is an urgent need for better counseling and vigorous screening of family members, to identify asymptomatic cases in the community and target this pool for curative as well as preventive measures.
Source: Table of Contents : Hepatitis B Annual : 2004 - 1(1) - Category: Hematology Authors: Source Type: research