Seroepidemiología de la infección por el virus de la hepatitis B en niños de la Amazonía colombiana

Abstract

Due to an outbreak of fulminant hepatitis (m) in a native elementary school in the remote State of Amazonas in Colombia, the Instituto Nacional de Salud (iNS) canied out two seroprevalence surveys of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection in that population; the fmt was performed in 1989 and the second, in 1991. Our main principal purpose was to identify the population susceptibiliiy to the infection in order to iniciate a vaccination program. A total of 404 individuals were surveyed in 1989 the global prevalence of infection reached 66% and the prevalence of surface antigenemia was 18%. Eighteen months later we obtained a second sample in 169 individuals; the acumulated incidence of infection for HBV was 67% and the likehood of death due to FH amongst the surface antigen-positive camers was 7% The global attack rate of FH for the population studied was 12 for 1000. Our resuts underline the importante of the introduction of Hepatitis B vaccine for the Expanded Program of Inmunization (EPI) in the Amazon region.