[Post-transfusion hepatitis in the Zürich region]

In the years 1979 to 1983 approximately 350,000 units of blood were transfused in the area of Zurich. During the same period 45 cases of posttransfusion hepatitis were reported. In 12 of these cases transfusion could be excluded as cause of the hepatitis. In another 26 cases it was not possible to prove a connection between the blood transfusion and the hepatitis. Only in 7 cases was blood transfusion proved to be responsible for posttransfusion hepatitis: in 3 cases blood positive for HBs-Ag was transfused. In 3 other cases donors who had donated HBs-Ag negative blood developed hepatitis-B shortly after their blood donation: it is assumed that their blood at the time of donation was carrying infectious hepatitis-B-virus particles at a concentration too small to be detected by routine HBs-Ag screening. In one case only was transmission of non-A-non-B-hepatitis virus suspected. Due to improved HBs-Ag-screening, the incidence of posttransfusion hepatitis has been reduced by nearly 70% during the last 10 years. Nevertheless, efforts must continue to reduce the incidence of this important transfusion complication.