HBV-DNA detection by gene amplification in acute hepatitis B.
Serum samples from 62 women, inadvertently infected with hepatitis B virus in an in vitro fertilization program, were tested for the presence of hepatitis B virus-DNA using the polymerase chain reaction. Under conditions of a strict spatial separation of DNA extraction, amplification and product analysis, we succeeded in detection of as few as 360 hepatitis B virus particles per milliliter. Hepatitis B virus-DNA was detected with a high frequency during HBsAg and HBeAg antigenemia (98.5%) but also in the convalescent phase after appearance of antibody to HBsAg (18.2%). However, all patients with hepatitis B virus-DNA in convalescent sera were hepatitis B virus-DNA negative 3 to 6 mo later. All patients with HBeAg-positive samples showed hepatitis B virus-DNA positivity by polymerase chain reaction. For acute hepatitis, gene amplification restores the relationship between HBeAg and hepatitis B virus-DNA observed in serum from chronic hepatitis B patients and calls attention to the prolonged presence of hepatitis B virus-DNA in serum after generally accepted criteria for resolution of the infection have been reached.
Department of Virology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
W G
WG
Quint
I
I
de Bruijn
H
H
Kruining
R A
RA
Heijtink
D000208:Acute Disease; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013048:Specimen Handling
D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens