Relationship between the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen and arbovirus in fishermen from the Ribeira Valley, Brazil Relação entre as prevalências de anticorpos para hepatite B (anti-HBc) e arbovirus em pescadores da região do Vale do Ribeira, São Paulo, Brasil

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Lygia Busch Iversson, Celso F. Hernandes Granato, Amélia Travassos da Rosa, Cláudio Sérgio Pannuti
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 1990
• Subjects: Hepatitis B Transmission; Hepatitis B Seroepidemiology; Arbovirus and hepatitis B; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Alta
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46651990000300012; https://doaj.org/article/9f257fe82ab440f9b394495aa8a76744

Sera from 299 fishermen 16 to 80 years old, residents in Cananeia and Iguape counties, southern cost of São Paulo State, Brazil, were studied in order to identify a possible association between the prevalence of specific antibodies to the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and exposure to haematophagus mosquitoes evaluated by the prevalence of arbovirus antibodies. This professional group presented the highest prevalence of arbovirus antibodies (54.1%) in past investigations carried out in this heavily forested region. Detection of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) in the sera was done by enzyme immunoassay (Roche). Prevalence of anti-HBc antibodies in this group was 31.4% (94/299) which is very high compared with 7.2% to 15.0% for different groups of healthy adults in State of São Paulo. No significant difference is observed between the prevalences of HBV antibodies in Iguape and Cananeia. Prevalence of anti-HBc and anti-arbovirus antibodies increases with age. There is a concordance in the distribution according to age groups of the frequency of anti-HBc and anti-arbovirus positive sera. Ag HBs was detected in 4% of the studied sera. These results support the hypothesis that the transmission of the hepatitis B virus and the arboviruses may be due to the same factor, one of the possibilities would be by anthropophilic mosquitoes. Soros de 299 pescadores de 18 a 80 anos de idade, residentes nos municípios de Iguape e Cananéia, região sul do Estado de São Paulo, foram estudados com o objetivo de identificar uma possível associação entre a prevalência de anticorpos específicos para a hepatite B e a exposição a mosquitos hematófagos, avaliada indiretamente pela prevalência de anticorpos de arbovírus. Esse grupo profissional apresentou, em pesquisas anteriores nessa área extensamente coberta por mata, a mais alta prevalência de anticorpos de arbovírus (54,1%). Utilizou-se teste imunoenzimático para detecção de anti-HBc e HBs Ag. Em 31,4% dos soros estavam presentes anticorpos anti-HBc, proporção ...