[Further observations on the HBeAg-HBeAb system in the course of hepatitis and in HBsAg carriers].

The HBeAg-HBeAb system has been studied by means of the microimmunodiffusion technique on agar in patients suffering from acute hepatitis at various stages of the disease, in patients with chronic liver diseases and in asymptomatic carriers of HBsAg. The results correlate the presence of HBeAg with the state of the disease (initial phase of acute or chronic hepatitis) and the presence of HBeAb with clinical cure of an acute hepatitis or with the condition of healthy carrier. It is a personal impression also that an HBsAg + hepatitis can be cured more rapidly the better the immune response expressed by the appearance of HBeAb, and that a lacking or deficient immune response to HBeAg may underlie the chronic course of the disease. Emphasis is also laid on the early disappearance of HBeAb in patients with acute hepatitis, this being matched by its persistence in asymptomatic carriers of HBsAg. In this regard, the first results reported here on the identification of the immune globulin class to which the HBeAb belongs would appear to confirm the hypothesis that the anti-e response is of IgM type in acute hepatitis and of IgG type in HBsAg carriers.