Strategic International Session1(JSH)
Thu. November 2nd   9:00 - 12:00   Room 11: Portopia Hotel South Wing Topaz
ST1-1_H
 Epidemiology of hepatitis B in Japan: focusing on prevention of mother-to-child transmission
Junko Tanaka
Department of Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University
As of 2000, the estimated 350 million people were persistently infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), and it has remained high at 296 million in 2019. The CDA Polaris reported that all countries are considered "Not on Track" in the HBV Elimination Achievement Status (2021).
In Japan, the HBV mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) prevention program was introduced in 1986 ahead of the world and prevalence of persistent HBV infection has been decreasing dramatically. Since 1986, keeping providing hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) and Hepatitis B Immunoglobulin (HBIG) to infants born to HBsAg-positive pregnant women, in 2016 routine HepB vaccination to all infants has also been implemented.
To verify HBV MTCT prevention program in Japan, the Viral Hepatitis Epidemiology Group conducted a survey in all 1,741 municipalities in 2016 (1,059 responded, 60.8%). A total of 745,135 pregnant women (37.1% of 2,009,098 total births during the same period) were divided into groups who were born before and after introduction of HBV MTCT prevention program (1986), the HBsAg positive rate of the group born after program introduction was 0.10%, which was lower than those born before (0.30%), suggesting that the program was effective. In addition, the estimated MTCT rate among HBsAg-positive mothers was 2%, and the estimated HBsAg positive rate from MTCT among all 1,005,667 children born in 2016 was 0.005%. Additionally, I would like to show HBsAg prevalence among first-time blood donors from epidemiological aspects.
Index Term 1: hepatitis B vaccine
Index Term 2: HBV mother-to-child transmission prevention program
Page Top