The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus infection has remained constant since 1999, according to a study published online Aug. 6 in Hepatology.
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 12, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has remained constant since 1999, according to a study published online Aug. 6 in Hepatology.
Henry Roberts, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues sought to determine the prevalence of HBV infection among non-institutionalized individuals aged 6 years and older. They examined the prevalence of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), hepatitis B surface antigen, and antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen over three periods: 1988 to 1994, 1999 to 2009, and 2007 to 2012.
"Despite increasing immune protection in young persons vaccinated in
infancy, an analysis of chronic hepatitis B prevalence in racial and
ethnic populations indicates that during 2011 to 2012 there were 847,000
HBV infections (which included ~400,000 non-Hispanic Asians) in the
non-institutionalized U.S. population," the authors write.
Read more...Labels: U.S. Statistics 2007 - 2012