Volume 191 - Issue 6
Perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus: an Australian experience
Authors: Miriam T Levy and Elke Wiseman
Med J Aust 2009; 191 (6): 357. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02829.x
Published online: 21 September 2009
Published online: 21 September 2009
In reply: We thank Thompson for her comments.
We endeavoured to contact women by phone, by letter, or through their local doctor (if known). With respect to the 69 infants lost to follow-up, five of the mothers declined assessment, four had moved interstate or overseas with their families, five had infants who had not reached 9 months of age, and the remaining mothers were uncontactable. Follow-up of a cohort of this kind is difficult, for reasons that include language barriers and high rates of mobility. Furthermore, at the time of the study, testing the babies was not standard practice and not enthusiastically received by all mothers. We are not a public health unit and are not resourced to pursue follow-up beyond the measures described. Nevertheless, through strong engagement with the mothers, who were referred on the basis of their hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, we achieved follow-up for a large number of babies. The data stand as valuable but not perfect.
As mentioned in our article,1 vaccination practice for babies born to infected mothers is for hepatitis B immunoglobulin and the first HBV vaccine dose to be given (in opposite thighs) within 12 hours of birth. The babies’ vaccination records were checked by consulting the “blue book”, a standardised medical record for infants, and, for those infected, by cross-checking with the hospital medication chart.
References
- Wiseman E, Fraser MA, Holden S, et al. Perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus: an Australian experience. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 489-492. 0_CGJEIFCG
Barriers and Facilitators to Timely Detection and Optimal Management of Chronic Wet Cough in Aboriginal Children Across Australia From the Perspectives of Carers of Aboriginal Children: A Qualitative Study
Gloria T. Y. Lau, Pam Laird, Robyn Aitken, Melanie Barwick, Liam Bedford, Emily R. Bowden, Jamie Everingham, Angela Fuery, Reece Griffin, Neha Jain, Mina Kinghorn, Renae Knapp, Gabrielle B. McCallum, Peter Morris, Richard Norman, Peter C. Richmond, Aarti Saiganesh, Slade Sibosado, Cameron Taylor, Maree Toombs, Roz Walker, Joan Wilson, Anne B. Chang, André Schultz
Barriers and Facilitators to Timely Detection and Optimal Management of Chronic Wet Cough in Aboriginal Children Across Australia From the Perspective of Health Care Providers: A Qualitative Study
Gloria T. Y. Lau, Pamela Laird, Robyn Aitken, Melanie Barwick, Liam Bedford, Emily R. Bowden, Corey Dalton, Jamie Everingham, Angela Fuery, Reece Griffin, Neha Jain, Mina Kinghorn, Renae Knapp, Gabrielle B. McCallum, Peter Morris, Richard Norman, Peter C. Richmond, Aarti Saiganesh, Slade Sibosado, Maree Toombs, Roz Walker, Joan Wilson, Anne B. Chang, André Schultz
Short-Term Safety of Concomitant Meningococcal B and National Immunisation Program Vaccines in Infants Aged < 15 Months: A Survey-Based Surveillance Study
Thuy Nguyen, Evelyn C. S. Tay, Michael Dymock, Thomas L. Snelling, Lucy Dawes, Julie Marsh, Yue Wu, Alan Leeb, Nicholas Wood, Lucy Deng
The GenV Biobank: Enabling Biological Research in a Large Longitudinal Population-Representative Cohort of Australian Newborns and Their Parents
Katherine Lange, Kim L. Powell, Yeukai Mangwiro, Tony Frugier, Donna T. Geddes, Melissa Wake, Richard Saffery
Watchful Waiting Compared With Immediate Antibiotics for Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children With Uncomplicated Acute Otitis Media (WATCH): A Non-Inferiority Randomised Controlled Trial
Jennifer S. Reath, Hasantha Gunasekera, Sanja Lujic, Amanda J. Leach, Letitia Campbell, Robyn Walsh, Tim Usherwood, Geoffrey K. Spurling, Claudette A. Tyson, Deborah A. Askew, Kelvin Kong, Chelsea J. Watego, Peter Morris, Wendy Hu, Penelope A. Abbott
A Rare Case of Storage Mite Anaphylaxis in Infancy
Eliza Kluckow, Katie Frith