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e-Antigen: a link between immune response and infectivity in hepatitis B?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

G. C. Turner ,
Helen T. Green  and
Vivian D. Blundell
G. C. Turner
Affiliation:
Regional Public Health Laboratory, Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool L9 7AL
Helen T. Green
Affiliation:
Regional Public Health Laboratory, Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool L9 7AL
Vivian D. Blundell
Affiliation:
Regional Public Health Laboratory, Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool L9 7AL
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Summary

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In a study of the distribution of e-antigen and anti-e in subjects whose blood was positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), patients with acute hepatitis B who were tested during the incubation period were all e-antigen-positive but after the onset of illness e-antigen was detected in only 11%. Persistence, and in some instances reappearance of e-antigen in those who became long-term carriers of HBsAg was associated with high titres of HBsAg. There was a high incidence of e-antigen in those conditions in which cell-mediated immunity may be depressed, including Down's syndrome and chronic renal failure.

The majority of HBsAg carriers identified as sources of infection were e-antigen-positive. A positive reaction for e-antigen is evidently associated with a defective immune response to hepatitis B virus infection which permits continued replication of virus in liver cells accompanied by high titres of HBsAg, numerous Dane particles and detectable DNA polymerase in the blood with consequently a greater likelihood of transmitting infection.

Although it cannot be assumed that anti-e positive carriers of HBsAg are not infective, it may be necessary, in the assessment of passive or active immunization for the control of hepatitis B, to take into account the e-antigen/antibody status of possible sources of infection.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , December 1978 , pp. 405 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

References

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