Department of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Research Center, Ulsan University Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan, Korea.
Intervirology. 2010;53(1):20-8. doi: 10.1159/000252780. Epub 2010 Jan 5.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination has effectively reduced the acute and chronic infection rates in recent years. Since 1983, HBV vaccination has been recommended for all neonates in Korea.
This article reviews the impacts of HBV vaccination throughout the past 25 years in Korea. Before the introduction of the HBV vaccination program, approximately 8% of the general Korean population tested positive for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg).
The percentage of vaccinated infants has surpassed 98.9% since 1990. The HBsAg carrier rate in the general population decreased to 3.7% in 2007. In particular, the prevalence of HBsAg decreased to 0.44% in teenagers and to 0.2% in children younger than 10 years. In addition, administration of the HBV vaccine may have reduced the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma among adults. Despite the administration of hepatitis B immunoglobulin and the HBV vaccine to children with HBsAg-positive mothers, the failure rate of HBV immunoprophylaxis was 4.2% in 2008. In Korea, there have been no reported cases of HBV surface gene variants such as G145R.
The prevalence of HBV carriers in Korea was markedly reduced after the introduction of the universal HBV vaccination program. Korea is now classified as an area of intermediate endemicity for HBV.
近年来，乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 疫苗的接种有效地降低了急性和慢性感染率。自 1983 年以来，韩国已建议所有新生儿接种 HBV 疫苗。
本文回顾了过去 25 年来韩国 HBV 疫苗接种的影响。在引入 HBV 疫苗接种计划之前，约 8%的韩国普通人群乙型肝炎病毒表面抗原 (HBsAg) 检测呈阳性。
自 1990 年以来，接种疫苗的婴儿比例已超过 98.9%。2007 年，普通人群中的 HBsAg 携带者率降至 3.7%。特别是，青少年中的 HBsAg 流行率降至 0.44%，10 岁以下儿童降至 0.2%。此外，HBV 疫苗的接种可能降低了成年人患肝细胞癌的风险。尽管对 HBsAg 阳性母亲的儿童进行了乙型肝炎免疫球蛋白和 HBV 疫苗接种，但 2008 年 HBV 免疫预防的失败率仍为 4.2%。在韩国，尚未报告出现 G145R 等 HBV 表面基因变异。
在引入普遍 HBV 疫苗接种计划后，韩国的 HBV 携带者流行率显著降低。韩国现已被归类为 HBV 中度流行地区。
