Prevention of vertical transmission and treatment of chronic hepatitis B

Vertical transmission is the main path of hepa- titis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). According to the development history of embryo and the pos- sible mechanism of vertical transmission, it's supposed that the effective method to prevent vertical transmission should be immunoprophy- laxis in both mother and baby. Pregnant woman with positive HBsAg should receive monthly injection of 200 IU hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg, or 400 IU once if HBV DNA is positive) from the 16th week after pregnancy (at from the 20 th week). The newborn child should re- ceive combined immunization (active/passive), namely injection of 200 IU HBIg within 24 hours (better within 6 hours) after birth, and one more repeat after 2 weeks. HBV vaccination should be carried out at the same time in order to acquire the best protection result. The treatment of CHB mainly depends on antiviral therapy, and sys- temic immunization may also contribute to the efficacy of antiviral drugs. A simple classifica- tion method of CHB was suggested according to serum HBV DNA level in this article, which could be easily used in clinical practice.