Hepatitis B virus perinatal transmission among Arab women

One thousand five hundred and fifty-four Arab women were screened at delivery for the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigenaemia in their sera. Forty-five or 2.9% were found to be positive. Only three of 41 (7.3%) of these hepatitis B surface antigen-positive (HbsAg) mothers were found to be positive for the presence of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), 27 (65.8%) had anti-HBe and the remaining 11 (26.8%) had neither HBeAg nor its corresponding antibody. These results, therefore, predicted a low rate of transmission of virus from mother to newborn. Follow-up for 4-13 months after delivery on 14 of these HBsAG-positive mothers and their infants indicated that in only one infant born to an HBeAg-positive mother did HBV antigenaemia develop. Another infant died from undetermined causes. Therefore, HBV perinatal transmission among Arabs, unlike that among populations in Southeast Asia, does not appear to contribute in an important way to the pool of carriers in this population.