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Diagnostic value of anti‐HBc IgM in high hbv prevalence areas
Author(s) -
Papaevangelou George,
RoumeliotouKarayannis Anastasia,
Tassopoulos Nicolaos,
Stathopoulou Paraskevi
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.1890130411
Subject(s) - hbsag , medicine , hepatitis b , virology , hepatitis b virus , immunology , asymptomatic , asymptomatic carrier , antibody , acute hepatitis b , hepatitis , virus
Abstract The diagnostic value of an anti‐μ‐capture immunoassay for the detection of IgM antibody against hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HBc) was evaluated. Strongly positive results were obtained from the acute phase sera of the 25 acute hepatitis B patients who were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive and of the 18 confirmed acute hepatitis B patients who had already cleared HBsAg when symptoms developed. Negative results were obtained in 5 hepatitis A patients, 20 non‐A, non‐B acute hepatitis patients serologically susceptible to HBV, 22 patients with chronic hepatitis B liver disease, 15 asymptomatic HBsAg carriers, and 10 healthy patients immune from past HBV infection. Fourteen of the acute hepatitis patients remained HBsAg positive for a follow‐up period of at least 6 months, and 12 of these were found consistently anti‐HBc IgM negative. These were considered as chronic HBsAg carriers with a superimposed form of acute liver injury. These data show that this assay can differentiate between acute from chronic (HBsAg positive) and recent from old (HBsAg negative) hepatitis B virus infection. Thus, it should be very useful in the complex diagnostic situations encountered commonly in areas with high prevalence of HBV infections.