HBV‐DNA detection by gene amplification in acute hepatitis B

Serum samples from 62 women, inadvertently infected with hepatitis B virus in an in vitro fertilization program, were tested for the presence of hepatitis B virus‐DNA using the polymerase chain reaction. Under conditions of a strict spatial separation of DNA extraction, amplification and product analysis, we succeeded in detection of as few as 360 hepatitis B virus particles per milliliter. Hepatitis B virus‐DNA was detected with a high frequency during HBsAg and HBeAg antigenemia (98.5%) but also in the convalescent phase after appearance of antibody to HBsAg (18.2%). However, all patients with hepatitis B virus‐DNA in convalescent sera were hepatitis B virus‐DNA negative 3 to 6 mo later. All patients with HBeAg‐positive samples showed hepatitis B virus‐DNA positivity by polymerase chain reaction. For acute hepatitis, gene amplification restores the relationship between HBeAg and hepatitis B virus‐DNA observed in serum from chronic hepatitis B patients and calls attention to the prolonged presence of hepatitis B virus‐DNA in serum after generally accepted criteria for resolution of the infection have been reached. (HEPATOLOGY 1990;12:653–656).