[A study on the possible transmission of hepatitis B virus from HBsAg carrier women to their husbands (author's transl)]

Abstract

In order to assess the possible sexual transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), the occurrence of post-marital acute hepatitis and the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody (HBsAb) were investigated among the husbands of HBsAg carrier women. The possible infectious routes and influencing factors in the HBV infection of the husbands by their HBsAg carrier wives were also discussed. This study demonstrates: 1. In the husbands examined, the exposure marker of HBV was found to be 32.8 per cent and the occurrence rate of post-marital hepatitis came up to 7.2 per cent. 2. The transmission of HBV from HBsAg carrier women to their husbands was supposed to take place shortly after marriage. E-Ag and e-Ab in ther sera of HBsAg carrier women could serve respectively as indicators of positive and negative HBV transmission. In the husbands with wives whose serum HBsAg-titers by R-PHA were higher than 39, a high exposure marker of HBV (87.5%) was observed. 3. The results of HBsAg detection rates and titers in various kinds of body fluids obtained from HBsAg carrier women suggested that cervical mucus and vaginal discharge might play an important role in the sexual HBV transmission.