Breast fed infants may be at greater risk of mother to infant hepatitis B virus infection compared with formula fed infants. We studied 85 infants born to 84 hepatitis B surface antigen positive mothers (only two of whom were hepatitis B e positive), and who had received immunisation against hepatitis B virus. Our results indicate that breast feeding does not increase the risk of developing hep...

The commercial hepatitis B enzyme immunoassay kits of Abbott Laboratories and Organon Teknika were compared for their sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility in detecting the hepatitis B seromarkers hepatitis B surface and e antigens and antibodies to hepatitis B core, e, and surface antigens. With the exception of the Organon kit for antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen, the specifi...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to evaluate a community based programme of antenatal screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and selective immunization of children commencing at birth, at a secondary care hospital in south India. The primary objective was to assess immunization coverage among children born to HBsAg positive women; secondary objectives were to study t...

In this pilot study of the effects of interferon alfa in 10 anti-HIV positive, chronic hepatitis B patients treated with zidovudine (AZT), tolerance to interferon was good and similar to that in anti-HIV negative patients. After treatment, the HIV stage and CD4 lymphocyte count were unchanged. In two patients hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) disappeared and the seru...

In two renal dialysis units which had outbreaks of hepatitis B, patients were studied for the presence of e antigen and antibody. In one unit, in which the illness was mild and most of the patients (78%) became carriers of HBsAg, all but one patient had e antigen. Most of the HBsAg carriers had persisting e antigen and most of the transient patients had also transient e antigen. In the other un...

The human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line PLC/PRF/5, which synthesizes and secretes hepatitis B surface antigen, was grown under optimal conditions in tissue culture, using Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 10(-11) M triiodothyronine on collagen rafts. Injection s.c. of the PLC/PRF/5 cell line into athymic BALB/c nude mice resulted in the growth of...

BACKGROUND We investigated the differences in HBsAg kinetics at different levels of viremia in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS We compared HBsAg levels among HBeAg-negative CHB patients with persistently undetectable HBV DNA (≤20 IU/mL; Group A, n = 100), HBV DNA 20-2,000 IU/mL (Group B, n = 100), and HBV DNA >2,000 IU/mL (Group C, n = 100). HBsAg and...

A 72-year-old female negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and positive for antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) was diagnosed to have follicular lymphoma in 2006. Seventeen cycles of rituximab-based chemotherapy were administered over 23 months. Twelve days after the last cycle of chemotherapy, serum aminotransferase levels were elevated, and hepatitis serology tests r...

Background: HIV infected persons are also at risk for Infection with other pathogens, like Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV). One of the main steps in the planning of treatment and prevention is the study of the HIV positive population who have HBV and/or HCV infection. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis B and C dual infection in ...