title: Viral hepatitis: a four-year hospital and general-practice study in Sydney 1. Epidemiological features, natural history, and laboratory findings.
abstract: We studied 761 patients admitted to hospital with viral hepatitis between 1971 and 1974, and 53 patients with viral hepatitis seen in general practice in Sydney, following up some of them for one to two years. We evaluated factors contributing to each type of hepatitis. We noted differences in the patterns in hepatitis A, B and non-A non-B between Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon sectors of the community. All patients with hepatitis A regained normal liver function within 20 months of the acute illness. Of 115 hepatitis B patients seen at 12 months, 6% had chronic hepatitis Bs antigenaemia, 60% had developed anti-HBs antibodies, and 7.3% still had abnormal liver function. Of 20 non-A non-B patients followed for 12 months, liver function was still abnormal in three, but one of these had developed hepatitis B. The case fatality rate for the whole series was 0.66%.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality; D006507:Hepatovirus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007267:Injections / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D007075:Immunoglobulin M