AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
2002 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - When given the appropriate protection, infants of mothers who are chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers may be able to breast feed without becoming infected with HBV.
The researchers have conducted a prospective study of infants who were born of mothers deemed chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers (hepatitis B e antigen-positive), examining more than 300 infants who were given hepatitis B immune globulin as well as hepatitis B vaccine series after delivery. At least 101 of the 369 infants were breast-fed, said J.B. Hill and colleagues in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Dallas, Texas university.
Only nine of the women, a third of whom breast fed their infants, exhibited signs of liver complications as evidenced by elevated levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase.
"Overall, there were nine cases of HBV infection transmission (2.4%)," reported Hill and coauthors.
After receiving all doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, each of the 101 breast-fed infants remained protected from HBV infection, based on serum testing for hepatitis B surface antigen ...