Surveillance for hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women in Greece shows high rates of chronic infection among immigrants and low vaccination-induced protection rates: preliminary results of a single center study

I S Elefsiniotis; I Glynou; I Zorou; I Magaziotou; H Brokalaki; E Apostolopoulou; E Vezali; H Kada; G Saroglou

doi:10.2807/ese.14.09.19132-en

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Surveillance for hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women in Greece shows high rates of chronic infection among immigrants and low vaccination-induced protection rates: preliminary results of a single center study
I S Elefsiniotis¹ , I Glynou² , I Zorou¹ , I Magaziotou¹ , H Brokalaki¹ , E Apostolopoulou¹ , E Vezali¹ , H Kada² , G Saroglou¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and Hepatology Unit, University of Athens, ‘Elena Venizelou’ Hospital, Athens, Greece ² Department of Microbiology, ‘Elena Venizelou’ Hospital, Athens, Greece

Correspondence:
I Elefsiniotis
ielefs nurs.uoa.gr
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Citation style for this article: Elefsiniotis I S, Glynou I, Zorou I, Magaziotou I, Brokalaki H, Apostolopoulou E, Vezali E, Kada H, Saroglou G. Surveillance for hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women in Greece shows high rates of chronic infection among immigrants and low vaccination-induced protection rates: preliminary results of a single center study. Euro Surveill. 2009;14(9):pii=19132. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.14.09.19132-en Received: 16 Feb 2009

Abstract

Epidemiological data on the prevalence of serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women in Greece are limited. We evaluated the prevalence of HBV serological markers in a multinational population of pregnant women in Athens, Greece. The overall prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) was 4.1% with the highest rates among Albanian immigrants (12%). Relatively low vaccination-induced protection rates (32.5%) were observed, a finding suggesting that surveillance and immunisation programmes targeted at pregnant women are necessary.