Hawaii's hepatitis b perinatal program. † 650

Hawaii's Hepatitis B Perinatal Program was established within the State Department of Health in December 1985. On May 24, 1990, the state law was amended to require prenatal screening of all pregnant women for hepatitis B. The effectiveness of identifying HBsAg-positive pregnant women through this universal screening and consequent post-exposure prophylaxis of infants born to those women was examined. Between January 1, 1986 and December 31, 1992, a total of 108,797 infants were born in the state. During that same period, 1,772 infants born to HBV-carrier mothers were identified by the Program. At an estimated HBV-carrier rate of 1.5%, this number represented an identification rate of 93%.