Hepatitis B, acute and chronic 2017
Hepatitis B, acute and chronic 2017
Acute hepatitis B 2017
In 2017, the Department of Infectious Epidemiology and Prevention received six notifications of acute hepatitis B; four of the cases were men. The median age was 28.5 years (range 18-43 years). Four persons were of Danish origin and two were of non-Danish origin. All cases were infected in Denmark, except one person of Bulgarian origin who had presumably become infected in Bulgaria.
The mode of transmission was specified for all of the notified persons. Three cases were homosexual transmission, two heterosexual transmission and the final case had become infected nosocomially/by tattooing (in Bulgaria).
Chronic hepatitis B 2017
In 2017, the Department of Infectious Epidemiology and Prevention received 258 notifications of chronic hepatitis B; Table 1. A total of 145 (56%) were women, Table 2. The median age for women was 32.5 years (range: 20-85 years), for men 41 years (range 14-78 years).
A total of 54% (n = 78) of the women were detected as part of the general screening of pregnant women. Two of the pregnant women had not been notified by their GP, despite reminders.
Only three Danish women were notified with chronic hepatitis B in 2017. For the three women, the mode of transmission was stated as drug addiction, heterosexual transmission and in the final case, the mode of transmission was unknown.
The majority, 242 (94%), were of non-Danish origin, including seven adoptees as well as ten second-generation immigrants of whom seven had become infected at birth in Denmark before the introduction of the general screening of pregnant women. Among the remaining three, no information was provided on mode of transmission, but all three had been born in Denmark by mothers from high-endemic areas, why mother-to-child infection is likely.
Sixteen (6%) persons were of Danish origin. For the Danish persons, the mode of transmission was notified as: heterosexual (7 persons), drug addiction (4 persons) and unknown (5 persons).
The notified persons of foreign origin were distributed on a total of 49 countries, including 66 persons (27%) from The Middle East.
Because of the general screening of pregnant women, women predominated among the notified cases of foreign origin, Figure 1.
Particularly women from South-East Asia and Eastern Europe were over-represented relative to men as they comprised 74% and 65%, respectively. In addition to the regions of origin presented in Figure 1, six of the notified persons were from Western Europe, five from the Indian subcontinent and three from Greenland.
Among the 142 for whom information on mode of transmission was available, the most frequent mode of transmission was mother-to-child transmission (n=112, 79%), Table 2.
No transmission to neonates was reported, but a total of five children were notified with chronic hepatitis B in 2017. All were born abroad and had become infected before their arrival to Denmark. Four of the children were notified as mother-to-child transmission, whereas the mode of transmission was unknown for the last child.
A total of 14 persons were infected heterosexually; two in Denmark and nine abroad. For three persons the country of infection was not stated. Two foreigners were notified as having become infected via close social contact in Syria and Uzbekistan, respectively.
Six persons were notified as having become infected via IV drug use; five in Denmark and one in Nepal.
Six were notified as nosocomial infection; three in Eastern Europe, one in Syria, one in Zimbawe and one in Greenland. All had become infected before their arrival to Denmark. For 117 persons, no source of infection was provided.
This report is described in EPI-NEWS 10/18.