Hepatitis B Antigen and Prevention of Post‐Transfusion Hepatitis B

Abstract
Screening for hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) in the serum of blood donors and exclusion of antigen‐positive blood units have reduced the frequency of post‐transfusion hepatitis but several cases of hepatitis B still occur in association with transfusions. One explanation for this is probably that HBsAg is not an indicator of infectivity. Thus healthy carriers of the antigen seem to have low infectivity while carriers with chronic liver disease as well as donors incubating hepatitis B probably present a great risk.