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ME Lai, P Farci, A Figus, A Balestrieri, M Arnone and GN Vyas
University of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.
The high endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and liver disease
in Sardinia led us to assess the occurrence of HBV DNA in 1,411 sera of two
selected groups of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)- negative blood
donors: 793 with abnormal serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and 618 with
normal serum ALT values (determined during routine testing of their blood
donation). HBV DNA sequences were detected by dot-blot hybridization in 68
of 793 subjects (9%) with abnormal ALT but only in three of 618 subjects
(0.5%) with normal ALT. HBV-core antibody (anti-HBc) was detected in 338 of
793 subjects (43%) with abnormal ALT as well as in 125 of 618 subjects
(20.2%) with normal ALT. Among the 71 subjects positive for serum HBV DNA,
22 (31%) were positive for anti- HBc, while 49 (69%) were negative for all
serologic markers of HBV infection. Thus, a high frequency of anti-HBc in
apparently healthy HBsAg-negative individuals and a high prevalence of
serum HBV DNA in the absence of immunologic markers of HBV infection
suggest the existence of genetic variants of HBV that may be responsible
for some of the presumed NANB hepatitis encountered in Sardinia and
possibly other areas of high endemicity for HBV.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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| Copyright © 1989 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||
