Controversy and Strategies Exploration in Blocking Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B

Abstract

Hepatitis B, a serious infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), remains a worldwide social and public health problem. Hepatitis B has a particularly high incidence rate in the world, whereas approximately 35–50% HBV carriers are infected through vertical transmission. Even after newborn immunoprophylaxis, vertical transmission still accounts for 5–10% in China according to plenty of literature in Chinese language. For these reasons, it is important to determine how to effectively intervene in mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). To date, though, intervention methods and measures remain controversial. In order to understand the mechanism of MTCT intervention further and develop effective preventions and interventions, a comprehensive analysis and presentation on some of its more controversial issues will be given in this paper. And eventually we conclude three measures and strategies for these issues: (1) emancipate the mind and seek truth from facts to understand the controversial issues pertaining to MTCT of HBV; (2) treat the basic rules and changing characteristics of MTCT blocking process of hepatitis B with holistic medical thought dialectically and (3) further explore the interaction of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors of MTCT of hepatitis B.

Keywords::

• controversial issues
• countermeasure
• hepatitis B virus
• mother-to-child transmission
• strategy exploration

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Chinese National Natural Science Foundation. Besides, the authors thank the volunteers who participated in our preliminary study, the health care workers and other staff members, without whom the precious experiences would not be applied to this narrative review.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 30671791).