title: Specific immune adherence assay for human hepatitis A antibody application to diagnostic and epidemiologic investigations.
abstract: A specific immune adherence (IA) test for hepatitis A antibody in human serum was described employing liver extract of marmosets infected with CR326 strain human hepatitis A virus. Persons with hepatitis A, but not hepatitis B, developed hepatitis A IA antibody soon after onset of the acute illness and this persisted thereafter. There was very close agreement in the tests for human hepatitis A immune adherence, complement fixing (CF) and neutralizing antibodies. IA antibodies appeared to develop somewhat later than CF or neutralizing antibody. A limited epidemiologic study of a family outbreak of hepatitis A and B in Costa Rica showed simultaneous occurrence of the two diseases and was supportive of the concept that susceptible persons in a country with high hepatitis A prevalence generally acquire their infections at an early age and are immune thereafter. Most persons of high socioeconomic level in an area of low hepatitis A incidence may proceed to adulthood without experience with hepatitis A. Person of low socioeconomic level, however, such as commercial blood bank donors and prisoners, show high incidence of hepatitis A antibody. Hepatitis IA and CF antibodies persisted in human subjects for at least 7 hr after hepatitis A virus infection. Captive chimpanzees and grivet and rhesus monkeys, not given hepatitis A virus, showed evidence of previous experience with human hepatitis A or an antigenically related virus based on tests for hepatitis A antibody. Other subhuman primates, rodents, and swine, not given hepatitis A virus, were without hepatitis A antibody. The IA test provides an excellent tool for diagnostic and epidemiologic investigations of hepatitis A and should be of considerable value to detect hepatitis A virus in attempts to propagate the virus in cell culture. There was considerable difference in hepatitis A IA antibody content of different lots of commercial human immune globulin, though the majority titered 1:4000 or 1:8000.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D002143:Callitrichinae / Q000276:immunology; D002458:Cell Fractionation; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007104:Immune Adherence Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases