The Newcastle hepatitis B outbreak. Observations on cause, management and prevention

During December 1983 and January 1984, an outbreak of hepatitis B occurred among health care workers in the Newcastle area. The probable source was the victim of a motor-bicycle accident who was incubating the illness at the time of his accident. The outbreak led to an extensive contact tracing and immunization programme and suggested that ambulance and police officers were at increased risk of contracting hepatitis B.