The disease, originally known as "serum hepatitis",[4] has caused epidemics in parts of Asia and Africa, and it is endemic in China.

Possible forms of transmission include (but are not limited to) unprotected sexual contact, blood transfusions, re-use of contaminated needles & syringes, and vertical transmission from mother to child during childbirth.

[11] The doctors were accused of re-using syringes, which had been contaminated with hepatitis B virus, to treat other patients.

Eight medical practitioners, including doctors Govind and Chintal Patel, were arrested under the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder after allegedly re-using infected syringes.

[16] In addition, the government distributed 30,000 pamphlets and mounted a campaign to inform residents about the disease.