[Serological study of the specificity of leukocyte hepatitis virus].

For investigation of the specificity of leukocyte hepatitis virus (LHV) in Botkin's disease, 369 patients with virus hepatitis, 96 donors and 61 patients with acute respiratory diseases were examined. The occurrence of specific antibody to LHV was determined by a micromodification of the conventional CFT. LHV was passaged in leukocyte culture stimulated with phytohemagglutinin. A control antigen was a leukocyte culture from the same donor not infected with LHV. An additional control was Epstein-Barr virus passaged in continuous leukocyte suspension cultures. The complement-fixing antibody to LHV was detected in sera from children and adults with virus hepatitis. The number of sera with antibody to LHV was significantly higher than that in the control groups. A rise of antibody titers in the course of the disease in the experimental groups in contrast to the controls attested to certain specificity of LHV in Botkin's disease. No antigenic relationship between LHV and HB antigen was found in serologic tests. The lack of differences in detection of the complement-fixing antibody to Epstein-Barr virus in the experimental and control groups suggests no role of this virus in the etiopathogenesis of Botkin's virus hepatitis.