title: [Serodiagnosis of acute hepatitis A].
abstract: Hepatitis A antibody (anti-HAV) was detected by specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) method in sera from 10 patients with acute icteric hepatitis. Anti-HAV was detectable in many subjects very early before the onset of jaundice, but the diagnosis of type A hepatitis in all patients was confirmed by the demonstration of seroconversion during convalescence. Since the initial antibody detected by RIA is predominantly IgM, while IgG specific anti-HAV appears later reaching peak levels within 1 to 2 months, we treated serum specimens of these patients with 2-mercaptoethanol (2ME) in order to differentiate acute-from convalescent-phase hepatitis A sera. Inactivation of IgM fraction with 2ME produced a significant reduction of anti-HAV titer only in acute-phase sera, so that this procedure may be used for early diagnosis of acute type A hepatitis.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007565:Jaundice / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008623:Mercaptoethanol; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D008623:Mercaptoethanol
vernacular_title: La diagnostica sierologica della epatite acuta da HAV.