A PRELIMINARY-STUDY ON INTERRUPTION OF HBV TRANSMISSION IN UTERUS

Objective The infection of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the uterus may o ccur in neonates born to HBV carrier mothers. The rates of intrauterin e transmission in these neonates were 10%-16%, Recent studies on the m ethods of combined passive and active immunizations indicate an effica cy approaching 70%-90%, but intrauterine infection of HBV is the major cause of failure of vaccination to combat hepatitis B in neonates bor n to HBV carrier mothers. We studied the interruptive effect of HBV sp ecific immunoglobulin (HBIG) before delivery in the prevention of intr auterine transmission of HBV. Methods Of 3632 pregnant women, two hund red and four were HBV carriers; they were randomly divided into an HBI G group and a control group. Each subject in the HBIG group received 2 00 IU of HBIG intramuscularly at 3, 2 and 1 month before delivery. The subjects in the control group did not receive any specific treatment. Blood tests were conducted for all the subjects and their neonates af ter birth. Blood specimens were tested for HBsAg and HBeAg by enzyme i mmunoassay (Abbott Kits). Results The results showed that the rates of intrauterine transmission in the two groups were 5.7% and 14.7% respe ctively (X(2)=4.58 P<0.05). No significant differences were observed f or the positive rates of HBsAg and HBeAg between the two groups after delivery, but titer of HBsAg was reduced significantly in the HBIG gro up (t=4.82, P<0.01). Conclusions Our study suggests that HBV infection in the uterus may be interrupted using multiple HBIG intramuscularly before delivery without any side effects.