title: Is there a downgrading in the alert about the hepatitis B virus infection in Italy?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is suspicion of a decrease in warning regarding the hepatitis B virus as a health problem both by the infected individuals and their doctors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the clinical/virology investigation of chronic hepatitis B virus infected individuals is at present accurate.
  
  
  METHODS
  The chronic hepatitis B virus surface antigen carriers consecutively attending 13 different hospital divisions in Calabria from July to December 2005 were evaluated to investigate the available information on the grade of their liver disease, their virologic profile and the hepatitis B virus status of their family members.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four-hundred-thirty hepatitis B virus surface antigen positive individuals were enrolled, 417 of whom were Calabrians. Most of them had a diagnosis of chronic liver disease, but a liver biopsy had been performed only in 13.5% of the cases, whereas more than 1/3 of them had not been tested for hepatitis Delta virus co-infection. The majority of these individuals were unaware of the hepatitis B virus status of their family members. Moreover, anti-hepatitis B virus vaccination procedures were not performed in most of the hepatitis B virus surface antigen carrier families.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed that fundamental clinical, virological, and epidemiological aspects of chronic hepatitis B virus infection are not investigated in many hepatitis B virus surface antigen carriers, suggesting that the general knowledge as regards hepatitis B virus is mostly inadequate.
authors.affiliation: Liver and Biomolecular unit, University of Messina, Italy. raimondo@unime.it
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raimondo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Isgrò
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caccamo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pollicino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Squadrito
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens