Acute hepatitis B in blood donors over a 5-year period in England and North Wales: who is getting infected?

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains the infection most frequently recognized by donation testing in blood donors. It is usually a persistent infection and mostly reflects the country of origin of the donor or the donor's family. There are, however, a minority of acute infections and this study undertook their phylogenetic analysis to determine the likely source of infection.

The diversity of chronic hepatitis B virus infections within blood donors in England and North Wales 2005 through 2010.

Background: In 2010 hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the most frequently detected infection in UK blood donation screening, typically found in first-time, male, chronically infected donors born abroad. To date there has been no comprehensive characterization of the virologic profile of these infections.

Study Design And Methods: Epidemiologic and serologic data were collected retrospectively for 344 chronically HBV-infected blood donors identified from July 2005 to June 2010.