Screening pregnant women prevents Hepatitis-B transmission: Rohtak PGIMS study

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Rohtak, May 3

Research done by doctors of Rohtak PGIMS has shown that the screening of pregnant women and administration of anti-viral drugs to Hepatitis B-positive pregnant women and their newborn children can completely prevent the transmission of Hepatitis-B.

The research has been conducted by the Department of Medical Gastroenterology at Rohtak PGIMS in collaboration with the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Microbiology at the PGIMS.

Breastfeeding helpful

The practice of breastfeeding the newborn should be continued by the Hepatitis B-positive mothers. Moreover, there is no indication of performing elective caesarean section solely for decreasing vertical transmission of Hepatitis-B. Dr Parveen Malhotra, head, dept of medical gastroenterology, PGIMS

“As many as 400 pregnant patients were found Hepatitis B-positive during their screening. Of them, 50 patients with high viral load and/or HbeAg positivity were put on anti-viral treatment from the 28th week of pregnancy. Every newborn was administered 0.5 ml hepatitis B immunoglobulin along with zero dose hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth, followed by complete course of Hepatitis-B vaccination,” said Dr Parveen Malhotra, senior professor and head, department of medical gastroenterology at PGIMS.

As per the guidelines, vertical transmission is confirmed if a child of a Hepatitis B-positive mother is detected to be HbsAg or HBV DNA positive at one year of age.

“Till date, as many as 100 newborns have attained one year of age, and all of them have been found to be HbsAg negative, indicating zero per cent vertical transmission,” said Dr Malhotra.

Significantly, all newborns were breastfed. There were no detrimental effects of Hepatitis-B virus or anti-viral treatment on the pregnant women as well as the newborns.

Most pregnant patients belonged to rural areas, were in the age-group of 20-30 years and predominantly delivered at government hospitals.

“The initial results of this research are very encouraging and underline the need of taking the aforesaid steps in all Hepatitis B-positive pregnant patients for preventing vertical transmission so as to decrease the total burden of this deadly disease,” said Dr Malhotra, who is also the in charge of the Model Treatment Centre at the PGIMS.

The research also reaffirms that the practice of breastfeeding the newborn should be continued by the Hepatitis B-positive mothers.

“Moreover, there is no indication of performing elective caesarean section solely for decreasing vertical transmission of Hepatitis-B,” the doctor added.