title: The role of the hepatitis B virus infection in patients with chronic hepatitis in Argentina.
abstract: Over a seven-year period, we monitored 221 patients with chronic hepatitis from two medical centers. By using the counterlectrophoresis (CEP) test to detect the presence of HBsAg and anti-HBc, or both, we established that 87.7% of them had hepatitis B infection. Serum specimens originally found negative for HBsAg by CEP were further tested by reversed passive hemagglutination (RPH), and those originally found negative for anti-HBc by CEP were further tested by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Five patients were anti-HBc-positive and HBs-Ag-negative. No sex predominance was observed, but HBsAg incidence increased with increasing age. The HBeAg antigen was detected in 46.8% of the 161 cases tested for it; the most frequent subtype found was adw (63.7%). The present findings indicate that HBV infection largely contributes to the development of chronic hepatitis in Argentinian patients.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003378:Counterimmunoelectrophoresis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens