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Relationship between HBeAg and HBV DNA in patients with acute and persistent hepatitis B infection
Author(s) -
Cowans Eric J.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1986.tb113868.x
Subject(s) - hbeag , hbsag , virology , medicine , hepatitis b virus , hepatitis b , liver disease , antibody , hepatitis , antigen , infectivity , immunology , virus , gastroenterology
The correlation between hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was studied in a number of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐positive serum samples which had been submitted for routine hepatitis screening. In patients with either acute or persistent HBV infection, a good overall correlation between HBeAg and HBV DNA was noted, although in persistently infected patients with chronic liver disease, 28% of samples with hepatitis B e antibody (anti‐HBe) were also positive for HBV DNA. Around 3% of the samples that were positive for HBV DNA were negative for HBeAg and anti‐HBe while, conversely, 19% of HBeAg‐positive sera were negative for HBV DNA. These results indicate that the presence or absence of HBeAg/anti‐HBe may not necessarily reflect that of serum HBV DNA, particularly in persistent infection; this provides further support for the replacement of HBeAg/anti‐HBe assays by detection of HBV DNA in the routine assessment of possible infectivity and chronic liver disease in HBsAg‐positive patients.