Research Article
K. S. Saraswathi, Farhana Alja
Abstract
To determine the prevalence of of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) during pregnancy in South Indian population. The study was conducted at Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and Post graduate Research centre, Hyderabad, India during January 2010 to April 2012, including 2155 antenatal women. All of them were screened for HBsAg. Of the total 2155 antenatal women, 19 were found to be positive for HBsAg (0.9%). Hepatitis B infection is highly infectious, associated with maternal complications and transmission to the child. It is mandatory that all the antenatal women should be screened for HBsAg and appropriately managed