Fulminant hepatitis B in an infant born to a hepatitis Be antibody positive, DNA negative carrier.

A boy was born to a mother who was a chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier. She was hepatitis Be (HBe) antibody positive and HBe antigen and HBV-DNA negative. The boy had not received hepatitis B vaccine and died from fulminant hepatitis at 3 months of age. This case demonstrates the need to vaccinate babies of HBe antibody positive, HBe antigen negative carriers.