Editorials

Antenatal screening for carriers of hepatitis B virus

Acute hepatitis B is becoming much less common in Britain now that blood and blood products are safe, health care staff are being vaccinated, infectious health care workers are being steered away from procedures that could transmit the virus, drug misusers have needle exchange schemes, and sexually active people have counselling and condoms. The current morbidity and mortality from hepatitis B mostly result from the chronic carrier state,¹ and the prevention of persistent infection must be central to any strategy to control the virus and its effects.

The probability that infection with hepatitis B will become persistent decreases with the age at which infection occurs. Between 60% and 90% of babies born to the most infectious mothers (those positive for hepatitis B e antigen) become carriers if infected perinatally, whereas this happens to less than 10% of those people infected as adults.^{1 2 3} . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Hepatitis B in the Chinese community in Britain

Kam Yung Tang, Thomas Chan, Kevin A Fenton, and Richard J C Gilson
BMJ 1996 312: 507. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Pierce, R. L., Smith, S., Rowe-West, B., Sterritt, B. (1999). Hepatitis B Maternal Screening, Infant Vaccination, and Infant Prophylaxis Practices in North Carolina. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 153: 619-623 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Nesbitt, A., Heathcock, R., Dunn, J., Shukla, R., Neal, K. (1997). Integration of hepatitis B vaccination into national immunisation programmes. BMJ 315: 121-121 [Full text]  
• Van Damme, P., Kane, M., Meheus, A. (1997). Integration of hepatitis B vaccination into national immunisation programmes. BMJ 314: 1033-1033 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Tang, K. Y., Chan, T., Fenton, K. A, Gilson, R. J C (1996). Hepatitis B in the Chinese community in Britain. BMJ 312: 507b-507 [Full text]