Is the Use of the Term ‘Posttransfusion Hepatitis Type B’ in Its Conventional Sense Still Justifiable?

Abstract

We have investigated 8 cases of clinically manifest hepatitis type B said to be posttransfusion hepatitis that have become known in the years 1978-1981. Paired samples of serum from all 54 blood donors implicated have been drawn at the time of the donation in question as well as a few months later. Only 1 donor, negative for HBsAg but positive with high titer for anti-HBc, could have been a possible source of infection. There is strong evidence that this person is a chronic low level carrier. In the case of 2 other patients transmission of hepatitis by clotting factors from pooled plasma cannot be denied. Regarding the remaining 5 cases, there is no hint whatsoever for a causal connection between blood transfusion and hapatitis type B.

A multicenter, prospective study of posttransfusion hepatitis in milan

“…The few cases of posttransfusion hepatitis type B (0.4%) could be attributed to the existence of donors with serum levels of HBsAg below the sensitivity of the assay (19), although some cases of hepatitis B could also be due to intrahospital transmission of hepatitis B virus (20). At variance with other studies (21), we found only one patient with CMV-related posttransfusion hepatitis.…”