Comparative study on subtypes of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) in two regions of southern Japan, Okinawa and Kumamoto. Prevalence and unusual subtypes.
A total of 209 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag)-positive sera from two possibly ethnologically different regions of southern Japan, Okinawa and Kumamoto, were subtyped by counterelectrophoresis using monospecific antisera to a, d, y, w, and r antigenic determinants. There was a marked difference in the prevalence of the w and r determinants in the two regions; the frequency of the HBs Ag/adr subtype was 95% in Kumamoto and 47% in Okinawa, suggesting that HBs Ag subtypes may be one of the markers reflecting an ethnological difference between the peoples of the two regions. Seven and three serum specimens in Okinawa and Kumamoto respectively showed unusual HBs Ag subtypes: four carried adwr (two specimens), aywr, or adyw determinants, five had only a, and the remaining one carried ar.
D000818:Animals; D000939:Epitopes; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D011817:Rabbits
D000939:Epitopes; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens