Necessity for routine obstetric screening for hepatitis B surface antigen.

Routine serologic testing of pregnant women in a predominantly Hispanic population at the Los Angeles County Medical Center revealed that 8 of 2,000 were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBSAg). Only two of the eight women had a risk factor as currently defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Screening of all pregnant women is necessary to identify those HBSAg-positive women capable of transmitting the hepatitis B virus to their infants. All the other obstetric surveys reviewed support the need to screen obstetric patients and to provide immunoprophylaxis to the infants at risk of perinatal infection. This policy is necessary to prevent perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus and is cost effective.