8. Why is the term 'carrier' misleading?

Carrier is a terrible term, and it ends up hurting a lot of people, because it gives them a false sense of security. You would never call someone with HIV or hepatitis C a carrier. We all want to get rid of this term. Basically, if you are a carrier, you have chronic hepatitis B. You could have normal ALTs (liver enzyme levels), and you might look healthy - years ago, people would refer to this as being a "carrier", but these are the same patients that get referred to us for liver failure or liver cancer, if they are not screened.