[Antigen e and its antibodies in acute serum hepatitis and in persons with a prolonged HBs-antigenemia]

The gel precipitation test was used for examinations of 280 HBsAg-positive patients with jaundiced serum hepatitis and 182 subjects with long-term HBs-antigenemia and various degrees of activity of the pathologic process in the liver, in a coded study. Among the latter, the e-antigen was found in 26.9%, that is twice as frequently than in patients with acute serum hepatitis (14.3%). Particularly frequently (31.1 and 45.2%) the e-antigen was found in children and adults who were assumed to have been the source of SH infection, as well as in infants infected from their mothers during delivery or soon after birth. A certain correlation was found between the rate of detection of the e-antigen and the presence of biochemical changes indicating liver function disorders. Thus, the e-antigen may be a marker of a higher infectivity of the serum and indicate a certain activity of the pathological process. Antibodies to the e-antigen were more frequently found in older age groups and in the absence of biochemical changes in the serum. The e-antigen and antibody to it were detected with similar frequency in infections with subtypes ay and ad of the HBs-antigen.