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- Amiran Gamkrelidze [1]
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- Irina Tskhomelidze [1]
- Jan Drobeniuc [1]
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- 1Global Immunization Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, United States [1]
- 2National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC), Tbilisi, Georgia [1]
- 3Division of Viral Hepatitis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, United States [1]
- 4The Task Force for Global Health, Tbilisi, Georgia [1]
- 5Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tbilisi, Georgia [1]
- 6 Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL, United States [1]
- 7Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition, Abbott Park, IL, United States [1]
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Georgia has adopted the World Health Organization European Region’s and global goals to eliminate viral hepatitis. A nationwide serosurvey among adults in 2015 showed 2.9% prevalence for hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) and 25.9% for antibodies against HBV core antigen (anti-HBc). HBV infection prevalence among children had previously not been assessed.
We aimed to assess HBV infection prevalence among children and update estimates for adults in Georgia.
This nationwide cross-sectional serosurvey conducted in 2021 among persons aged ≥ 5 years used multi-stage stratified cluster design. Participants aged 5–20 years were eligible for hepatitis B vaccination as infants. Blood samples were tested for anti-HBc and if positive for HBsAg. Weighted proportions and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for both markers.
Among 5–17 year-olds (n = 1473) 0.03% (95% CI: 0–0.19) were HBsAg-positive and 0.7% (95% CI: 0.3–1.6) were anti-HBc-positive. Among adults (n = 7237) 2.7% (95% CI: 2.3–3.4) were HBsAg-positive and 21.7% (95% CI: 20.4–23.2) anti-HBc-positive; HBsAg prevalence was lowest (0.2%; 95% CI: 0.0–1.5) among 18–23-year-olds and highest (8.6%; 95% CI: 6.1–12.1) among 35–39-year-olds.
Hepatitis B vaccination in Georgia had remarkable impact. In 2021 HBsAg prevalence among children was well below the 0.5% hepatitis B control target of the European Region and met the ≤ 0.1% HBsAg seroprevalence target for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HBV. Chronic HBV infection remains a problem among adults born before vaccine introduction. Screening treatment and preventive interventions among adults and sustained high immunisation coverage among children can help eliminate hepatitis B in Georgia by 2030.