INTRAFAMILIAL CLUSTER OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS INFECTION: STUDY OF A LARGE FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Sampliner, R. E. (VA Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21218), B. L. Loevinger, E. Tabor and R. J. Gerety. intrafamllial cluster of hepatitis B virus infection: study of a large family in the United States. Am J Epidemiol 1981;113:50–54. Seventy-eight persons in an Italian-American family were tested for hepatitis B serologic markers. Fifty-one (65%) had serologic evidence of active or prior hepatitis B infection. Twenty-eight (36%) had evidence of active infection, including twenty-six with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and two with antibody to the hepatitis B core antigen only. Severe chronic liver disease was documented in four family members, three of whom had serologic evidence of active hepatitis B infection and the fourth died before the availability of hepatitis B testing. Thirteen of 18 (72%) offspring of six HBsAg positive mothers were HBsAg positive. No epldemlologic explanation of the high prevalence of hepatitis B infection in this family was found, although mother-to-child transmission in years past is a possible explanation.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: