Hepatitis B surface antigenemia rate; fluctuation and universal hepatitis B virus in Thailand, a reappraisal from studies in an endemic area

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important public health problem. The HBV infection is highly prevalent in Indochina including to Thailand. As a public health policy, universal HBV vaccination has been provided to all newborn since 1992 as a national attempt for the eradication of HBV infection. In this short report, the authors perform a reappraisal analysis on the available data from an endemic area in our setting regarding hepatitis B surface antigenemia (HBsAg) rate. The fluctuation of rate can be observed and this might have some implication on the present universal HBV vaccination program in our setting.