Who Knows Whether He's Passing on Hepatitis?

The virus of infectious hepatitis has long been recognized as an insidious cause of slow-developing and sometimes fatal illness. Now it seems that it may be an even sneakier invader than people have realized. Northwestern University's Dr. Joseph D. Boggs reported to the A.M.A. that his studies with volunteer prisoners at Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet indicate that many, if not most, of the people infected by the virus never show any detectable symptoms. But even in these mild cases in which the victim does not feel ill, the virus may do hidden damage to the liver.

The Boggs report raises a disturbing possibility: blood donors who honestly answer no when asked whether they have ever had hepatitis may not, after all, be free of the virus, which may then be passed on in transfusions.

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