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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Detection and Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA
Published on: December 15, 2023
Non-A hepatitis B virus genotypes in antenatal clinics, United Kingdom
Samir Dervisevic1, Samreen Ijaz, Shahneila Chaudry
1Department of Virology, University College London Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. s.dervisevic@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract:
In the United Kingdom, the National Screening Programme for identification of hepatitits B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women uses HBV e antigen (HBeAg) and antibody to HBeAg (anti-HBe) as markers of infectivity to determine use of immunoglobulin for hepatitis B. Serum samples from 114 HBV-infected women were analyzed. Viral loads correlated with HBeAg/anti-HBe status and viral genotypes. Among 95 mothers whose serum contained anti-HBe, viral loads ranged between undetectable and 8.6 x 10(6) IU/mL (median 228 IU/mL). Ten (10.5%) of these mothers had plasma viral loads >10(4) IU/mL; 6 were infected with genotype E and one each with genotypes A, B, C, and D. All viruses had precore stop codon or basal core promoter mutations. Preponderance of genotypes other than A among antenatal mothers in the United Kingdom reflects increasing globalization and trends in immigration. HBeAg serostatus is no longer sufficiently accurate for inferring potential infectivity of pregnant HBV carriers.
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