Open AccessEpidemiology of acute and chronic hepatitis B and delta over the last 5 decades in Italy
Author(s) -
Evangelista Sagnelli,
Mariantonietta Pisaturo,
Margherita Macera,
Nicola Coppola
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
world journal of gastroenterology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.427
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 2219-2840
pISSN - 1007-9327
DOI - 10.3748/wjg.v20.i24.7635
Subject(s) - medicine , hbsag , hepatitis b virus , population , hepatitis b , epidemiology , transmission (telecommunications) , immunology , incidence (geometry) , virology , vaccination , virus , hepatitis d virus , environmental health , physics , optics , electrical engineering , engineering
The spread of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has gradually decreased in Italy in the last 5 decades as shown by the steady reduction in the incidence rates of acute hepatitis B, from 10/1 inhabitants in 1984 to 0.85/1 in 2012, and by the reduced prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive cases among chronic hepatitis patients with different etiologies, from 60% in 1975 to about 10% in 2001. The prevalence of HBsAg chronic carriers in the general population also decreased from nearly 3% in the 1980s to 1% in 2010. Linked to HBV by its characteristics of defective virus, the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) has shown a similar epidemiological impact on the Italian population over time. The incidence of acute HDV infection decreased from 3.2/1 inhabitants in 1987 to 0.8/1 in 2010 and the prevalence of HDV infection in HBsAg chronic carriers decreased from 24% in 1990 to 8.5% in 2006. Before the beneficial effects of HBV mass vaccination introduced in 1991, the decreased endemicity of HBV and HDV infection in Italy paralleled the improvement in screening blood donations, the higher standard of living and impressive reduction in the birth rate associated with a marked reduction in the family size. A further contribution to the decline in HBV and HDV infections most probably came from the media campaigns to prevent the spread of human immunodeficiency virus infection by focusing the attention of the general population on the same routes of transmission of viral infections such as unsafe sexual intercourse and parenteral exposures of different kinds.