The CDC recently updated its recommendations for hepatitis B infection testing, saying all adults should be tested at least once in their lifetime and a wider range should be periodically retested.
The March 10 report recommends moving away from a risk-based approach to increase awareness and reduce chronic disease and premature death.
"Overall, risk-based testing has been insufficient to identify persons with HBV infection in the United States and has been a barrier to appropriately screening populations with a disproportionate prevalence of disease," the report said. "A one-time HBV screening of adults would be complementary to the 2022 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendation to vaccinate all adults aged 19-59 years for HBV infection because screening establishes any history of infection, and vaccination protects from future infection and need for additional testing."
Screenings should be triple panel, including HBV surface antigen, antibodies to them, and total hepatitis B core antibody, according to the report.