Hepatitis B antigen and viral hepatitis type B in India

Surveys were conducted to determine the occurrence of overt hepatitis manifested by jaundice in groups of hospital patients who had survived their initial illness. Of those who had been given blood that had not been screened for the presence of hepatitis B antigen (HB Ag) 9.4% reported that they had had jaundice during the 6 months following transfusion. During a similar period jaundice was reported by only 1.1% of those who had received blood found to be negative for HB Ag by the cross-over electrophoresis test. This difference is highly significant. Jaundice was reported by 25.5% of recipients of HB Ag-positive blood. Of a control population of hospitalized but non-transfused patients 2.2% reported jaundice within 6 months of hospitalization. The risk of overt hepatitis from HB Ag in transfused blood is high in southern India and is similar to that in temperate countries where the occurrence of antigen carriers, and presumably of immune status, are lower than in the tropics.