PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS-B AND HEPATITIS-C AND HIV ANTIBODIES IN CHILDREN IN A ROMANIAN ORPHANAGE

Two hundred and fifteen children in an orphanage in Romania were examined for serum markers of present or past hepatitis B and C virus and HIV infection. In total, 183 children (85.1%) had at least one marker (HBsAg, anti-HBs or anti-HBc) of hepatitis B virus infection. An HBsAg carrier state was diagnosed in 38 (20.8%) of the infected children. Among the carriers 24.3% were HBeAg carriers, 51.4% had anti-HBe and 24.3% had neither HBe antigen nor antibody. Nine children (4.2%) had antibodies to hepatitis C virus. All sera were negative in tests for HIV antibodies. False-positive reactions represented a considerable problem with these sera. Six percent of the sera gave false-positive reactions in indirect ELISA tests for hepatitis C and HIV. Sera giving false-positive reactions had rather high serum IgG levels. The results of this study indicate that these children have been heavily exposed to hepatitis B virus and to a certain degree to hepatitis C virus, while there were no cases of HIV infection in this orphanage.