Prevalence of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HTLV-1 Using an Expanded Testing Panel Among Pregnant Women in Two Cities in Colombia, 2024-2025

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection using an expanded panel among pregnant women in two Colombian cities, 2024-2025.

Material and methods: A descriptive crosssectional study was conducted among pregnant women attending three primary care institutions in Cali and Buenaventura. Participants were selected through consecutive sampling. A total of 320 women were assessed for eligibility; 305 provided informed consent, completed a structured questionnaire, had complete samples, and were included in the final analysis. The panel included hepatitis B surface antigen, antibodies against hepatitis B surface antigen and total core antigen, antibodies against HCV with confirmation by viral RNA, and antibodies against HTLV-1 with confirmation by Western blot. A descriptive analysis was performed, and period prevalence estimates were calculated.

Results: The median age was 26 years, and the median gestational age was 22 weeks. Five cases of HTLV-1 infection (1.6 %) and two cases of active HCV infection (0.7 %) were confirmed. For HBV, 214 women were susceptible (70.2 %), 84 had vaccine-induced immunity (27.5 %), 4 had resolved infection (1.3 %), 2 had reactivated chronic infection (0.7 %), and 1 had acute infection (0.3 %).

Conclusion: The expanded panel allowed estimation of the prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HTLV-1. The high susceptibility to HBV highlights the need to strengthen vaccination status assessment and hepatitis B vaccination during prenatal care.