Prevalence of serological markers for viral hepatitis and AIDS in rural Punjab
Werner, G.T.; Frosner, G.G.; Sareen, D.K.
Journal of Communicable Diseases 21(2): 139-141
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5138 PMID: 2809149 Document Number: 374836
Sera from 385 healthy people aged 1-76 years from rural Punjab, India, were assayed in 1985-1986 for antibodies to hepatitis A, hepatitis B virus (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B serum antigen, and 175 of these sera were screened for HIV antibodies by ELISA. Commercial kits Havab, Ausrah II, and Ausab Test, (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill, USA) were used. In cases of positive HBsAG, HBe-Antigen and HBV-DNA were determined by radioimmunoassay. over 98% of persons 20, 89% of those 10-19 and 88% of children 1-9 had hepatitis A antibodies. Markers for hepatitis B virus, anti-HBc, ranged from 3.12-36.9% over the age groups, with a total of 100 or 30% positive. HBsAG positives averaged 3.37%. These data are typical of Indian populations in which everyone 10 years has been exposed to hepatitis A. None of the sera were positive for HIV.