title: Acute viral hepatitis in adults. Comparison of the radioimmunoassay and counterimmunoelectrophoresis methods of detecting HbsAg.
abstract: We compared the radioimmunoassay (RIA) and counterimmunoelectrophoretic (CIE) methods in detecting hepatitis B antigen (HBsAG) in 407 acute and 336 convalescent sera of adults with viral hepatitis. The CIE method demonstrated that 41% of acute and 28% of 14-to 17-day serum specimens were HBsAg-positive. The RIA method demonstrated seropositivity in 60% of acute and 56% of convalescent specimens (P less than .001). Eighty-four percent of coded specimens initially positive for HBsAg by RIA were found to have subtype antigenic determinants d or y; 92% of the HBsAg-negative controls were negative for subtype antigens, confirming the specificity of the RIA test. RIA subtyping data corroborated earlier work with immunodiffusion techniques.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003289:Convalescence; D000939:Epitopes; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007122:Immunoelectrophoresis / Q000295:instrumentation; D008297:Male; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens