title: Viral hepatitis, type A. Identification by specific complement fixation and immune adherence tests.
abstract: Hepatitis A antibody was detected by specific immune adherence and complement-fixation tests in a study involving 473 serum specimens from 20 patients who had viral hepatitis, Type A. In all 20 patients who had no detectable immune adherence antibody (less than 1:5) before onset of hepatitis high levels (greater than or equal to 1:1024) developed one to four weeks later, occasionally reaching peak levels exceeding greater than or equal to 1:81,920 several months thereafter. Five to 10 years later the immune adherence antibody levels ranged between 1:640 and 1:20,480. In general, the complement-fixation test was not as sensitive or as specific as the immune adherence test. These findings indicate that the immune adherence test should be a valuable tool for diagnosis, for epidemiologic surveys, for identification of susceptible and immune persons, for quantitative assays of gamma globulin and for identification of hepatitis A virus in attempts to propagate the virus in cell culture.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000276:immunology; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007104:Immune Adherence Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases