Research Information System
Thesis Type: Expertise In Medicine
Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Turkey
Approval Date: 2012
Student: HÜLYA DURAN
Supervisor: IŞIL FİDAN
Abstract:Introduction and Aim: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause chronic liver damage and it leads to chronic carrier state. Especially the age of exposure to infection is very important for chronicity of the infection. Neonatal patients who are infected have 80-90% of chronicity, also this factor is an important health problem because of spreading of infection and transmission to others. Therefore; it is necessary to prevent hepatitis B infection in the childhood and neonatal period. In this respect hepatitis B vaccine is very important .Because vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infection in children. Therefore, the Ministry of Health have decided to implement the routine hepatitis B vaccination of all newborns since 1998. The aim of this study is to determine the hepatitis B seroprevalance in the period after that the hepatitis B vaccination was included in the routine vaccination program, and to compare this with that before the vaccination program, and hence to show the effectiveness of this program. Material and Method: 461 children between the ages of 0-18 who are required examination of all hepatitis B serological markers serum samples of patients (HBsAg, AntiHBs, HBeAg, AntiHBe, AntiHBc IgM and AntiHBc total) in immunology laboratory of Gazi University Medical Faculty Hospital between January 2009-January 2010 were included. 198 children who were born before routine Hepatitis B vaccination program (1992-1997) were included as control group and 263 children who were born after vaccination program (1998 and later) were included as study group. Seroprevalence of hepatitis B in these two groups were evaluated and compared to each other. Results: 461patients (169 women and 292 men) were included in this study. The average age of patients was 9.94 ± 5.08 years. HBsAg seropositivity and carrier rate in children who were born before the vaccination program was 14.3%, whereas the rate in children who were born after the program was 2.7% and it was statistically significant (p<0.05). The rate of encountering with the virus in children who were born before vaccination program was 18.3%, whereas the rate in children who were born after the program was 5.7% and it was statistically significant (p<0.05). Immunity rate which is caused by infection in children who were born before vaccination program was 4.5% whereas this rate in children who were born after program was 3%. There wasn t statistically significant relation between the inclusion of the vaccine into the routine program and the past infection. The rate of unvaccinated children who aren`t encountered with the virus was 17.7% in children who were born before that the vaccine was included in the routine program and %19.8 in children born after, respectively. Between the inclusion of the vaccine into the routine program and the rate of unvaccinated children who aren`t encountered with the virus, there wasn`t statistically significant difference. (p>0.05). Conclusion: It was determined that routine hepatitis B vaccination program is effective and vaccination was performed by families before the vaccination program. In order to protect future generations from negative effects of HBV infection, vacination program was shown to be necessary and should be continued also by raising awareness among our people.