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Hepatitis B, chronic (historical version)
2003 Case Definition

Hepatitis B, chronic (historical version)
2003 Case Definition
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NOTE: A surveillance case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. Surveillance case definitions enable public health officials to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions. Surveillance case definitions are not intended to be used by healthcare providers for making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient’s health needs.

Clinical Description

Persons with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be asymptomatic. They may have no evidence of liver disease or may have a spectrum of disease ranging from chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Laboratory Criteria For Diagnosis

  • Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive, total hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) positive (if done) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) anti-HBc negative, OR
  • HBsAg positive two times at least 6 months apart.

Case Classification

Confirmed

A case that is laboratory confirmed.

Related Case Definition(s)

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Last Reviewed: April 16, 2021
Source: Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology