It is recommended by the Department of Health and Social Security that hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers
found at blood donation should be followed up by specialist liver units. We attempted to do this in 74 such patients
found by the Yorkshire Regional Blood Transfusion Service during a 4.5-year period. Only 32 of the patients
eventually attended for further investigation and follow-up. However, 43 chronic HBV carriers found at blood
donation have been followed for varying periods from 2 to 14 years, and the prognosis has been good. Although this
raises the question as to whether such carriers need to be seen routinely in a specialist unit, we suggest that there are
good reasons to continue to advocate this policy.
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