Serostatus for viral e antigen is no longer accurate for inferring potential infectivity of pregnant virus carriers. In the United Kingdom, the National Screening Programme for identification of hepatitits B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women uses HBV e antigen (HBeAg) and antibody to HBeAg (anti-HBe) as markers of infectivity to determine use of immunoglobulin for hepatitis B. Serum samples from 114 HBV-infected women were analyzed. Viral loads correlated with HBeAg/anti-HBe status and viral genotypes. Among 95 mothers whose serum contained anti-HBe, viral loads ranged between undetectable and 8.6 × 10 6 IU/mL (median 228 IU/mL). Ten (10.5%) of these mothers had plasma viral loads >10 4 IU/mL; 6 were infected with genotype E and one each with genotypes A, B, C, and D. All viruses had precore stop codon or basal core promoter mutations. Preponderance of genotypes other than A among antenatal mothers in the United Kingdom reflects increasing globalization and trends in immigration. HBeAg serostatus is no longer sufficiently accurate for inferring potential infectivity of pregnant HBV carriers.
【저자키워드】 Pregnancy, Research, Hepatitis B virus, HBV genotypes, Hepatitis B virus DNA, Basal core promoter, hepatitis B virus e antigen, antibody to hepatitis B virus e protein, precore mutations,