Hepatitis B virus serum markers (HBsAg, antiHBs, antiHBc): prevalence among drug addicts in north-east Italy.

Sera from 128 drug addicts without overt liver disease living in North-East Italy were tested for HBsAg, antiHBs, antiHBc. HBV infection serum evidence was present in 79.6% of the tested subjects: 14 (10.93%) were found to be HBsAG¿76 (59.3%) antiHBs+ and 12 (9.37%) had antiHBc alone. The overall prevalence of HBV infection was four fold higher than that observed in age matched controls. Our figures are essentially in agreement with those observed in low HBV prevalence countries, indicating that drug addicts are a peculiar group, highly exposed to HBV infection irrespective of the entity of HBV circulation in a given population. However, the risk of HBsAg chronicity is not enhanced in drug abusers.