Hepatitis B as a sexually transmitted disease in a black South African population.

This study compares the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-hepatitis B antibody (anti-HBs) statuses of 1 032 Black patients with syphilis (338 male and 694 female) with those of 3 021 (758 male and 2 263 female--anti-HBs) and 8 310 (3 257 male and 5 053 female--HBsAg) unpaid blood donors with a negative syphilis test result who were of similar ethnic origin. The results for the groups of males showed no statistically significant differences even when the HBsAg and anti-HBs results were summed to provide an index of previous hepatitis B infection. In contrast, the group of females with syphilis had a significantly higher incidence of both markers compared with the blood donors (HBsAg in 7,20% v. 3,46% of controls and anti-HBs in 50,14% v. 41,05%). These findings would seem to support the view that hepatitis B viral infection may be more easily transmitted from males to females during sexual contact than vice versa.