Peer-reviewed article
Intermediate hepatitis B virus infection prevalence among 1622 pregnant women in rural Burkina Faso and implications for mother-to-child transmission.
Ouoba S, Ko K, Lingani M, Nagashima S, Guingané AN et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tested 1,622 pregnant women in rural Burkina Faso for hepatitis B infection to understand the risk of passing the virus to newborns. About 6.5% of pregnant women carried hepatitis B, and nearly one in five of those had very high levels of the virus that increase transmission risk. The researchers found that a simple blood test (HBeAg) could identify most cases with high viral load, but it missed some cases, suggesting the need for better screening of all pregnant women.
Key points
- Hepatitis B prevalence among pregnant women was 6.5% (102 out of 1,622)
- Among HBsAg-positive women, 19.1% had high viral load (≥200,000 IU/mL) associated with increased mother-to-child transmission risk
- HBeAg was positive in 22.6% of HBsAg-positive women
- HBeAg test had 55.6% sensitivity and 86.8% specificity for identifying high viral load cases
- Predominant genotypes were E (58.7%) and A (36.5%)
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional descriptive study without follow-up of actual mother-to-child transmission outcomes, so it cannot directly measure whether high viral load in mothers results in infection of their children. The study only assessed the prevalence and characteristics of hepatitis B in pregnant women without evaluating interventions to prevent transmission.
Abstract
In highly endemic countries for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, childhood infection, including mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), represents the primary transmission route. High maternal DNA level (viral load ≥ 200,000 IU/mL) is a significant factor for MTCT. We investigated the prevalence of HBsAg, HBeAg, and high HBV DNA among pregnant women in three hospitals in Burkina Faso and assessed the performance of HBeAg to predict high viral load. Consenting pregnant women were interviewed on their sociodemographic characteristics and tested for HBsAg by a rapid diagnostic test, and dried blood spot (DBS) samples were collected for laboratory analyses. Of the 1622 participants, HBsAg prevalence was 6.5% (95% CI, 5.4-7.8%). Among 102 HBsAg-positive pregnant women in DBS samples, HBeAg was positive in 22.6% (95% CI, 14.9-31.9%), and viral load was quantified in 94 cases, with 19.1% having HBV DNA ≥ 200,000 IU/mL. HBV genotypes were identified in 63 samples and predominant genotypes were E (58.7%) and A (36.5%). The sensitivity of HBeAg by using DBS samples to identify high viral load in the 94 cases was 55.6%, and the specificity was 86.8%. These findings highlight the need to implement routine HBV screening and effective MTCT risk assessment for all pregnant women in Burkina Faso to enable early interventions that can effectively reduce MTCT.