Hepatitis B surface antigen prevalence in blood samples tested at Cabell Huntington Hospital
Elitsur, Y.; Liu, X.
West Virginia Medical Journal 89(9): 389-390
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0043-3284 PMID: 8310694 Document Number: 411618
Hepatitis B is a major cause of chronic liver disease which leads to morbidity and mortality among patients. In the current era, when federal and governmental support for health care is shrinking, the HBsAg+ carrier state in West Virginia becomes an important factor for future health care planning. In this study, we retrospectively investigated the HBsAg+ carrier rate in serum samples studied in the Cabell-Huntington Hospital Laboratory from January 1990-January 1993. Only 50/6,209 (0.8%) serum samples were positive for HBsAg. These positive samples represented 10 different patients, 8/10 were females and only 4/8 were of child-bearing age. We conclude that HBsAg+ carrier state in patients from Cabell County is below the national average.