Epidemiological study of Hepatitis B surface antigen in pregnant women in Zahedan

Abstract

Background: Pregnant women who are infected with hepatitis B virus، can infect their children. The risk that newborn infant will develop hepatitis B is 10 to 90%.The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBsAg in pregnant women in Zahedan. Methods and Materials: In this cross sectional study in a time period of one month in Zahedan a total cases of 200 pregnant women were enrolled in our study. The sera obtained from these pregnant women were measured by ELISA method for HBsAg. Results: Our data showed that 6.5% of the pregnant women had a positive test for HBsAg. Conclusions: In summary, it seems that hepatitis B infection is highly endemic at least in pregnant women in Zahedan. On the basis of this epidemiologic data, screening of all pregnant women is necessary.