Abstract:The importance of hepatitis B infection in the aetiology of chronic hepatitis: a Sydney hospital experience. G. W. McCaughan, C. Parsons, R. G. Batey and N. D. Gallagher,Aust. N.Z. J. Med.,1982, 12, pp. 19–21.This is an analysis of the role of the hepatitis B virus as an aetiological factor in forty‐two patients with either chronic active or chronic persistent hepatitis. Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia was present in seven of 27 patients with chronic active and in seven of 15 with chronic persistent hepatitis. In patients without hepatitis B surface antigenaemia, other hepatitis B markers were found in seven patients although their presence was thought unlikely to have aetiological significance. This report suggests a substantial contribution of hepatitis B infection to the cause of chronic hepatitis in Syd