Article
HbsAg Prevalence in Germany: Impact of Immigration
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Authors
Published: | September 8, 2005 |
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Outline
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Objective
Immigration from countries with intermediate to high HbsAg prevalence could contribute substantially to the incidence and prevalence of hepatitis B in Germany. By the end of 2003, 7.3 million foreign citizens and 3.2 million migrants from the former USSR and Poland with German roots, the “Aussiedler”, lived in Germany. The aim of the study was to determine the HBsAg prevalence in adult foreign citizens and “Aussiedler” in comparison to the adult German population.
Methods
According to their country of origin adult foreign citizens and “Aussiedler” were categorized into groups with low, intermediate or high HbsAg prevalence using data from the WHO. The number of chronic HBsAg carriers for the different population groups was then calculated.
Results
84% of the adult migrant population in Germany migrated from countries with intermediate and high HBsAg endemicity. We calculated 503.040 HBsAg carriers in Germany for the year 2003. 42% account to people with migratory background, who in contrast represent only 12.7% of the whole adult population. The risk for being chronically infected with HBsAg is 7.1 (4.8-13.2) for the Aussiedler and 4.3 (3.0-8.1) times higher for foreign citizens compared to the German population.
Conclusion
Due to these remarkable differences in prevalence it is important to consider migrants and their cIose contacts adequately in vaccinations, HBsAg screening programmes in pregnant women and treatments for chronic hepatitis B. To understand the impact of migration on the population dynamics of hepatitis B the country of birth should be included into the reporting of acute hepatitis B cases.