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Etiology of Fulminant Viral Hepatitis in Greece
Author(s) -
Papaevangelou George,
Tassopoulos Nicolaos,
RoumeliotouKarayannis Anastasia,
Richardson Clive
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840040304
Subject(s) - fulminant , etiology , fulminant hepatitis , virology , medicine , viral hepatitis , hepatitis , immunology
The etiology of fulminant viral hepatitis was determined in 65 consecutive cases among 1,814 (3.58%) adults with acute viral hepatitis who were admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital of Athens from May, 1981 to August, 1983. Radioimmunoassays were used to detect hepatitis B virus, hepatitis A virus and δ‐agent markers. Enzyme immunoassay was used to detect anti‐HBc IgM. Hepatitis B virus was responsible for 48 (73.9%), non‐A, non‐B for 16 (24.6%) and hepatitis A virus for one case (1.5%). The use of anti‐HBc IgM identified 10 cases of fulminant type B hepatitis among HBsAg negative, anti‐HBc and anti‐HBs positive patients. Fulminant non‐A, non‐B hepatitis was superimposed on 10 asymptomatic HBsAg carriers; δ‐agent co‐infection was diagnosed in two fulminant type B hepatitis cases. These data show that hepatitis B virus is the major cause of fulminant hepatitis in Greece. HBsAg carriers are at high risk for fulminant non‐A, non‐B hepatitis. α‐agent does not seem to be as important as in Italy and other countries.