Hepatitis B Outbreak Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that there were 2896 acute hepatitis B cases in 24 EU/EEA countries in 2013.1 The incidence ranged from 0.1 cases per 100,000 in France and Portugal to 4.3 per 100,000 in Latvia, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.2:1 in EU/EEA countries, and transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) reported in 9.4% of all cases of acute hepatitis B.1 Some authors consider hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection to be endemic in the MSM population with the incidence 20 times higher in MSM than in the general population worldwide.2 However, data on HBV prevalence among MSM are available for only four EU/EEA countries.3 Six to ten percent of MSM infected with HBV worldwide are co-infected with HIV.4