Changes in the Positivities of HBsAg and Anti-HCV Antibody among Army Draftees in Korea

Kim, Rock Kwon; Ahn, Byung Min; Lee, Dong Soo; Lee, Kang Moon; Park, Young Min; Lee, Young Sok; Chung, Kyu Won; Lee, Won Chul; Meng, Kwang Ho

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Before the introduction of the HBV vaccination programs, the positivity of HBsAg among the general population was reported to be around 8% in Korea. Although recent reports revealed somewhat decreased values, a wide range of variation exists according to the authors. Major movements to control HBV infection include the programs such as the introduction of HBV vaccination in 1983, mass inoculation of the elementary school children since 1988 and inclusion of type B hepatitis in 1995 in Class III legal epidemics. The purpose of the present study was to examine the changing trend of the positivities of HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HCV in army draftees in Korea since we believed that they are an ideal study group with a set of fixed variables such as gender and age.
METHODS
From January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1999, we evaluated a total of 498,206 male army draftees for serum ALT, HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HCV antibody. HBsAg (Genedia, Yongin, Korea) and HBeAg (Amrad, Austrailia) were examined by EIA and Immunochromatography, respectively. Anti-HCV antibody was tested by 3rd generation EIA (Genedia, Yongin, Korea). Serum ALT was determined by autoanalyser, Polystat 2000 (Hitachi, Japan).
RESULTS
The majority of the draftees were 20 years old (68.8%). The positivity of HBsAg gradually decreased from 5.8% in 1993 to 4.3% in 1999(mean 4.8%). The positivity of HBeAg among the asymptomatic HBsAg carriers ranged from 47.9% to 55.6%(mean 51.8%). The positivity of anti-HCV antibody was seen in the range from 0.09% to 0.29%(mean 0.18%), and 84.5% showed normal ALT. The positivity of HBsAg among the anti-HCV positive subjects was 6.6%.
CONCLUSION
The HBsAg positivity has significantly(p=0.001) decreased for the past 7 years. However, the positivity of anti-HCV antibody showed no significant pattern of change during the same period.