[Australia antigen and chronic hepatitis in blood donors]

A routine search for Australia antigen in 29,936 blood donors at the Orleans Hospital Blood Transfusion centre led to the discovery of 105 apparently healthy carriers. Liver function tests were carried out in 80 of the latter and revealed abnormalities in 34 of them. Out of 18 patients who had no other explanation such as alcohol or drugs and who had abnormal tests six months later, 11 accepted liver biopsy. Histology revealed 4 cases of post-hepatic cirrhosis, 2 cases of chronic aggressive hepatitis, 2 cases of chronic persistent hepatitis and 3 livers with non-specific changes.