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Prevalence and mother‐to‐infant transmission of hepatitis viruses B, C, and E in Southern Tanzania

Hepatitis B and C markers were tested in 980 pregnant women, in the infants born to infected mothers, and in a random sample of 42 and 50, respectively, children born to uninfected mothers in Tanzania. Sixty‐two women (6.3%) were positive for HBsAg and 15 (24%) were HBeAg‐seropositive. Anti‐HCV was detected in 49 women (5%), 15 (31%) of whom had detectable viremia. HCV RNA serum levels were low and only genotype 4 was identified. Sixty‐six women (6.7%) were positive for anti‐HIV, six of whom were coinfected with HBV and one with HCV. Anti‐HEV was negative in the 180 women tested. At 8 months of age, HBsAg was detected in 8% and 2% of children born to HBV‐infected and noninfected mothers, respectively (P = 0.2). Corresponding figures at 18 months of age were 31% and 21% (P = 0.3). When tested at 2 months of age, HCV RNA was not detected in any of the 43 children born to anti‐HCV–positive mothers nor in any of 50 children born to anti‐HCV–negative mothers. At 18 months, only one child, born to an anti‐HCV–positive mother, had detectable HCV RNA. None of the infants born to women with HIV coinfection were infected with hepatitis viruses. This study suggests that exposure to HEV does not occur in southern Tanzania. The prevalence of current HBV infection in pregnant women from rural Tanzania is lower than in other sub‐Saharan areas. In early childhood, HBV infection appears to occur by horizontal rather than maternofilial mechanisms of transmission. The prevalence of HCV infection is similar to that in other African countries. The results of this study show for the first time in Africa that mother‐to‐infant transmission does not play a significant role in the acquisition of HCV infection. J. Med. Virol. 58:215–220, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.