1 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
The Task Force on Medical Care of the Vietnamese Child under the auspices of the American Academy of Pediatrics should be commended on the breadth and speed of the reporting. It is unfortunate that the terse statements required of the committee do not allow for an airing of controversy, as exemplified by the conclusion that
-globulin for household contacts of patients with hepatitis B "is of no value."1 This long-established view was largely predicated on studies of individuals exposed to serum hepatitis by multiple transfusion, where the results2,3 may reflect the dose of
-globulin used, the hepatitis B antibody (anti-HB8) titer, the large quantity of virus in the transfusion, or the variety types of hepatitis (A, B, C, drug, or postoperative) studied together as post-transfusion hepatitis.