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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 106, No. 6: 502-506
Copyright © 1977 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

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PREVALENCE AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTIBODY TO HEPATITIS B CORE ANTIGEN IN GREECE1

GEORGE PAPAEVANGELOU2, PARASKEVI KARABOYIA-KARAFYLLIDIS and ATHENA KYRIAKIDOU

1Red Cross Hospital and the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the University of Athens Athens, Greece

2Reprint requests to Dr. Papaevangelou, 52 Skoufa St., Athens 135, Greece

Papaevangelou G. (Dept. of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece), P. Karaboyia-Karafyllldis and A. Kyrlakidou. Prevalence and epidemioiogic significance of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen in Greece. Am J Epidemiol 106:502–506, 1977.

The diagnostic and epidemiologic significance of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) detected by complement fixation was studied in a sample of 412 healthy persons, 0–70 years old of both sexes living in the Athens area. The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections was found to be very high (26.5%) and the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier rate (4.1%) among the highest in Europe. Anti-HBc was detected in 63 (15.3%) of the examined persons. In 10 of them anti-HBc was the only evidence of HBV infection. The prevalence of anti-HBc (without HBsAg or anti-HBs) increased with age, while the HBsAg carrier rate declined in older age groups. It was also found that the frequency of anti-HBc detection in persons with anti-HBs declines with age, Indicating that anti-HBc persists for a shorter period than the anti-HBs after HBV infection. These data stress the importance of anti-HBc testing in increasing the sensitivity of the detection of potentially infective HBV carriers as well as in studying various epidemlologic aspects of HBV infection.

carrier state; hepatitis B antigen; hepatitis virus B; serology


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