Hepatitis-associated antigen in pregnant women.

Hepatitis-associated Antigen (HAA) was detected in 82 out of 69,978 Danish pregnant women studied (0.12 per cent). This incidence varied from 0.36 per cent in some metropolitan areas to 0.03 per cent in rural districts. Only one of the antigenaemic women had acute hepatitis, 81 were apparently healthy carriers. The pregnancies did not imply any deterioration of the healthy carrier state. HAA could not be demonstrated in any of 51 cord blood samples studied and the children remained antigen negative and healthy during a 4–12 month follow-up.