Hyderabad: Hepatitis B screening must for pregnant women

HYDERABAD: With maternal mortality back into focus following the recent deaths in Niloufer hospital, doctors warn that pregnant women should invariably undergo Hepatitis B test as the infection contributes to high morbidity and prenatal mortality .

Of the 7,000 odd pregnant women studied in Hyderabad in the last six months, it was found that a considerable number of women carry the Hepatitis B virus. City researchers point out that 20% to 70% of pregnant women with hepatitis B infection are at risk of death during delivery. Mortality can be avoided through proper screening during pregnancy .

“Hepatitis B infection can also be transmitted to the baby, making it mandatory to screen all antenatal women.The newborn should be given immune-prophylaxis treatment,“ said a team of researchers from Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and Malla Reddy Medical College for Women. The team comprises of Mohammed Ismail Khan, R Shyamala, Vibha Rani and KS Saraswathi. About 25% of these cases develop severe health issues including liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Researchers studied 7096 antenatal women over a period of 23 months ending November 2016 to find out the incidence of hepatitis B surface antigen. Of them, 57 pregnant women tested positive. This constitutes 0.79% of the pregnant women studied. It is a high rate of incidence as compared to other cities. For instance in Kerala, it is only 0.21%. They said that vertical transmission to the newborn is about 60% to 90%. “Maternal complications include abortions, preterm birth, infections, kidney failure etc. This leads to increased maternal morbidity and mortality. Acute liver failure occurs in about one percent of patients with acute Hepatitis B and jaundice,“ the researchers said, adding that medical termination of pregnancy does not change the impact.

“These antenatal cases were in the age group of 16 years to 35 years. In all, 45 women were in the age group of 16 years to 25 years accounting for 78.9% and 12 were in the age group of 26-35 years. The transmission from mother to child during and after delivery is about 90%,“ they warned suggesting that every pregnant woman should be screened for Hepatitis B infection.