FAILURE OF IMMUNE SERUM GLOBULIN TO PREVENT HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-INFECTION IN INFANTS BORN TO HBSAG-POSITIVE MOTHERS

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 76  (3) , 535-539
Abstract
Twelve [human] infants born to mothers with hepatitis B virus infection were inoculated within 7 days of birth with immune serum globulin containing antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) titers of 1:32 to 1:64 as measured by passive hemagglutination. Of nine infants, 6 (66.7%) born to HBsAg-positive carrier mothers became HBsAg-positive within 3 mo. of age. Of 3 treated infants born to mothers with acute hepatitis B during the delivery period, 2 developed HBsAg. The hepatitis e Ag was detected in 4 of 5 carrier mothers and in 2 mothers with acute hepatitis, whose infants subsequently became HBsAg-positive. Hepatitis B-specific DNA polymerase activity was detected in the 7 HBsAg-positive mothers who transmitted the virus to their infants. All 8 infants remained persistently HBsAg-positive. The immune serum globulin containing low-titer Ab to HBsAg is not protective when given to infants born to HBsAg carrier mothers or to mothers with acute hepatitis B during the delivery period.