{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]],"date-time":"2025-12-13T20:00:07Z","timestamp":1765656007015,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"Suppl 2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Gut"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1996]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Although Singapore is in an endemic region for hepatitis B infection, the hepatitis B carriage rate of 5-6% is relatively low. The highest positivity rates for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) are found in the paediatric age group, with another peak in 40-49 year olds. Studies suggest that, although perinatal transmission is an important route of infection, most children acquire the virus through horizontal transmission between family members. Viral replication continues at a high rate in young carriers and tends to slow down with increasing age. Up to 50% of hepatitis B carriers in Singapore have chronic hepatitis, shown by raised serum ALT values and liver histology, and about 10% are infected with the precore mutant virus. About 20% of carriers have cirrhosis. Among patients with HCC, up to 75% are HBsAg positive, of whom 45% are still viraemic. Mass vaccination against hepatitis B was introduced into Singapore on a voluntary basis in 1983, with compulsory vaccination of babies born to HBeAg positive mothers since 1985. The number of cases of acute hepatitis B has fallen by 60% between 1989 and 1995 although the problems of the longterm complications of chronic hepatitis B still need to be tackled.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/gut.38.suppl_2.s13","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,18]],"date-time":"2007-09-18T17:41:31Z","timestamp":1190137291000},"page":"S13-S17","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Hepatitis B virus infection in Singapore."],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"38","author":[{"given":"R","family":"Guan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1996,1,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"15","article-title":"Hepatitis B infection in Singapore","volume":"3","author":"Chan, S.H.","year":"1977","unstructured":"Chan SH. Hepatitis B infection in Singapore. 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