THE EFFECT OF A NATIONWIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR MOTHER-TO-INFANT INFECTION BY HBV EVALUATED BY VIRAL MARKERS IN BLOOD DONORS IN NAGASAKI PREFECTURE

Nagasaki Prefecture is a highly endemic area for hepatitis B virus (HBV). In recent years, we have identified a decrease in the incidence of positivity for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). In 1985, the Government of Japan started a nationwide prevention program for mother-to-infant infection by HBV. As blood donor is acceptable from age 16, a portion of the people who owed this program became to age with approval of blood donation. We screened 291, 587 serum samples from voluntary blood donors (170, 366 males and 121, 221 females) between 16 and 69 years of age who first visited Nagasaki and Sasebo Red Cross Blood Center from June 1990 to December 2004. The positive rate for HBsAg among blood donors by year of birth decreased from 1.67 to 0% over the years 1929 to 1988 (test of trend; p