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Hepatitis B virus‐DNA in the serum of patients followed‐up longitudinally with acute and chronic hepatitis B
Author(s) -
Moestrup T.,
Hansson B. G.,
Widell A.,
Blomberg J.,
Nordenfelt E.
Publication year - 1985
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.1890170406
Subject(s) - hbeag , hbsag , medicine , virology , hepatitis b virus , clearance , hepatitis , hepatitis b , virus , infectivity , hepadnaviridae , immunology , urology
Sera from 79 patients with acute self‐limiting hepatitis, 17 patients with acute hepatitis B evolving into chronic HBsAg carriership, and 43 chronic HBsAg carriers without a history of acute hepatitis were analyzed for presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐DNA by a molecular hybridization technique. In acute self‐limiting hepatitis, HBV‐DNA was cleared within a few weeks after the onset of clinical symptoms. The longest period of DNA positivity observed in this group was 42 days. In 29 of 52 patients HBV‐DNA was cleared before HBeAg disappeared. Among 17 patients who became chronic HBsAg carriers, HBV‐DNA was present for more than 6 months in all but one. Most of the HBsAg carriers eventually cleared HBV‐DNA. The DNA clearance frequently preceeded the conversion of HBeAg to anti‐HBe. Thus, in many patients there was a transitional period with HBeAg but without HBV‐DNA. HBV‐DNA was found to be a better index of impending chronicity than HBeAg since persistence of HBeAg for more than 42 days was noted in 10% of the patients who nevertheless cleared HBsAg within 6 months. By that time all those patients had turned negative for HBV‐DNA. On the other hand, in 16 of the 17 patients who became chronic carriers of HBsAg, HBV‐DNA as well as HBeAg persisted for more than 6 months. The present results also suggest that infectivity in acute hepatitis B is a feature mainly of the presymptomatic and early symptomatic period.