AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND1

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Abstract
Residents of a randomly selected sample of households in a low-income housing project in Bangkok were studied between July 1971 and April 1972. Prevalence of hepatitis B antigen (HBS Ag) in July 1971 was 8.2% in 697 persons age one year and older and changed little with age. Prevalence of antibody to HBS Ag (anti-HBS) was much higher in all age groups and was 46% overall. The prevalence of HBS Ag was higher in males than females from ages 10–29 years and the prevalence of anti-HBS was higher in males up to age 60. The HBV (combined HBS Ag and anti-HBS) age prevalence distribution in July 1971 revealed that over 20% of the children 1–4 years of age had serologic evidence of infection and that the prevalence rose rapidly with age reaching plateau between 60–70% after age 15. During the nine months of serologic surveillance 13% of individuals acquired either HBS Ag or anti-HBS and 7% lost serologic evidence of HBV infection. The study data suggest that most HBS Ag positive persons are long-term antigen carriers, that their numbers and spatial distribution may be sufficient to account for the wide-spread transmission of HBV in this population, that close person-to-person contact with carriers is probably the most important mode of HBV transmission, and that the susceptibility to becoming an HBS Ag carrier is probably genetically determined.

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