Njoh J
Al Amal Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
East Afr Med J. 1995 Aug;72(8):490-1.
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBV markers--hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) among drug-dependent patients in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Over a period of four months, all the patients admitted for drug dependence were tested for these HBV markers. There were 349 patients altogether of which 281 (80.5%) were intravenous drug users. 44 were positive for HBsAg, 171 were positive for anti-HBs and 187 were positive for anti-HBc, giving an overall prevalence of 12.6%, 49.0% and 53.6%, respectively. The prevalence of each marker was higher among the IV drug users. The high prevalence of the markers indicate that HBV is highly endemic among drug-dependent patients in this city, especially among the IV drug users and that almost half of all the patients have developed some immunity to the virus. Many of the drug-dependent HBsAg carriers also possess HBeAg. The persistence of these two antigens makes them highly infectious and predisposes them to chronic liver diseases and hepatocellular carcinoma. There is a need for more public education and needle and syringe exchange schemes to control the spread of the virus and prevent future complications.
本研究的目的是确定沙特阿拉伯吉达市药物依赖患者中乙肝病毒标志物——乙肝表面抗原（HBsAg）、乙肝表面抗体（抗-HBs）和乙肝核心抗体（抗-HBc）的流行情况。在四个月的时间里，对所有因药物依赖入院的患者进行了这些乙肝病毒标志物检测。总共有349名患者，其中281名（80.5%）为静脉吸毒者。44人HBsAg呈阳性，171人抗-HBs呈阳性，187人抗-HBc呈阳性，总体流行率分别为12.6%、49.0%和53.6%。每种标志物在静脉吸毒者中的流行率更高。这些标志物的高流行率表明，乙肝病毒在该市的药物依赖患者中高度流行，尤其是在静脉吸毒者中，并且几乎一半的患者已对该病毒产生了一定的免疫力。许多药物依赖的HBsAg携带者也携带HBeAg。这两种抗原的持续存在使他们具有高度传染性，并使他们易患慢性肝病和肝细胞癌。需要开展更多的公众教育以及针头和注射器交换计划，以控制病毒传播并预防未来的并发症。
