About 350 million people have hepatitis B infection and half of them acquire infection through perinatal transmission or in early childhood. Almost 50,0000 to 1.2 million deaths per year are attributed to hepatitis B worldwide. Young individuals are at greater risk of development of chronic infection. Management of hepatitis B in pregnancy has several important aspects including effect of pregnancy on course of hepatitis B and vice versa, perinatal transmission of infection, use of drugs to prevent that and possible teratogenicity.
Introduction Hepatitis B virus is a double stranded DNA virus. The virus is highly infectious. The mode of transmission includes sexual contact, blood transfusions, intravenous drug users and perinatal transmission. Clinical presentation Infection with hepatitis B is mostly asymptomatic except for intravenous drug users in which about 30% develop jaundice.…
