[Prevalence of hepatitis B infection and factors associated in children of Ivorian HBsAg carrier subjects].

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in children (contact subjects) of chronic HBsAg (index subjects) and to investigate the factors associated with this infection in these children.
Patients and Methods: this was a retrospective cross-sectional study of HBsAg positive patients (index subjects), whose families (contact subjects: spouses and children) were routinely screened for HBV infection.
Results: The median age of our 44 subjects was 43.1 ± 7.49 years. The average number of children per index subject was 2.3 ± 1.1. The median age of the 92 children was 9.3± 4.55 (1 to 15 years) and 43 (44.8%) were vaccinated against HBV. The prevalence of HBV infection was 24%. The independent factors associated with HBV infection in children were HBV DNA for index subjects> 2000 IU/ml (OR = 11.5; p = 0.001), the existence of HBV in both parents (OR = 7.9; p = 0.03) and no HBV vaccination in children (OR = 30.9; p = 0.003).
Conclusion: Immunization coverage of children of index subjects was insufficient. In addition to vertical transmission, the risk of intrafamilial transmission was high in the presence of at least one of the three associated factors.
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