[Prognosis of acute hepatitis B]

The clinical course, persistance of HBs antigen, and the liver biopsy morphological picture were evaluated in 40 patients with acute viral hepatitis, type B. In 34 cases, the disease ran a satisfactory course and clinical cure was corroborated histologically. In 4 cases, onset was particularly severe and the disease ran a long course. Here the immunological test for HBs antigen was still positive 8 weeks after the disease began, while a biopsy at 4 months showed a morphological picture similar to that of acute hepatitis. Lastly, two cases with a protracted clinical course displayed persistent HBs antigen positivity one year after the acute episode, with a histological finding of persistent hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver respectively.