Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia in Kenyans with chronic liver disease
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Date
1976Author
Pettigrew, NM
Bagshawe, AF
Cameron, HM
Cameron, CH
Dorman, JM
MacSween, RNM
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Fifty Kenyan patients with chronic liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma were tested for hepatitis B surface antigenaemia by radioimmunoassay. The hepatitis B surface antigen was detected in 77% of the patients with chronic persistent or chronic aggressive hepatitis, or cirrhosis confirmed by liver biopsy, compared with 15% in a control group. All six patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had detectable hepatitis B surface antigen or antibody. 50% of the controls had hepatitis B surface antibody in their plasma detectable by haemagglutination. Auto-immune associated liver disease appeared infrequent. The possibility that the hepatitis B virus is an important cause of cirrhosis in Kenya is discussed.
URI
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0035920376901309http://hdl.handle.net/11295/91698
Citation
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Volume 70, Issues 5–6, 1976, Pages 462-465Publisher
University of Nairobi
Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10378]