Acute infectious hepatitis. Clinical and epidemiological study.
A retrospective study of 120 children from birth to seven years of age suffering from acute infectious hepatitis was carried out from 1971 to 1974 at the Children's Hospital "La Fe". Only the most serious cases from the region were admitted to the Hospital and were classified and analyzed according to HBAg+ and HBAg- groups. Clinical and biochemical evaluations were done at admission, and again after 15 and 30 days. The main findings were as follows: hospital incidence was 5%; seasonal distribution did not follow the expected epidemiological pattern; the disease was more common among malnourished children; HBAg+ and HBAg- cases were not randomly distributed among the various blood groups: A+ children were four times more susceptible to HBAg- than to HBAg+, and 0+ children were more than twice more susceptible to HBAg+ than to HBAg-; clinical and biochemical recovery occurred within 30 days after hospital admission; mortality was 2.5%. Steroid therapy was reserved for the most serious cases; however, it was not possible to evaluate in this study its contribution to the course of the disease.
D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D013030:Spain
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens