Guidelines for the Detection of a Common Source of Hepatitis B Virus Infections

Hepatitis b virus (hbv) is an important threat to global public health. despite the availability of safe and effective prophylactic vaccines, the existence of a large reservoir of chronic carrier patients impedes the eradication of this virus; therefore, hbv-related diseases still rank ninth on the global ranking of causes of mortality (1). moreover, hbv is considered the fifth most important infectious agent leading to death, with approximately 1 million hbv-related deaths occurring per year (2). previous studies showed that the infectivity rate of hbv is higher than those of other blood-borne viruses. the risk of infection after percutaneous exposure to the 3 major blood-borne viruses—hbv, hepatitis c virus (hcv), and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)—varies greatly, and the risk of infection in non-immune individuals exposed to hbv may be over 30% if the source is hepatitis b e antigen (hbeag) positive. the average infection rate for hcv and hiv is 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively (3).