Some aspects of HB Ag in hepatitis in Sri Lanka.

Twenty-four out of 72 sera from patients with acute viral hepatitis were positive for HB Ag. HB Ag positive males were more severely ill than HB Ag positive females. The sera of four patients with active chronic hepatitis were negative for HB Ag. Thirteen sera of HB Ag positive cases were tested for anti-nuclear factor, all with negative results. In all four patients with active chronic hepatitis anti-nuclear factor was positive. There was a high incidence of latex fixation reactivity in the HB Ag positive cases (9 out of 13). Arbovirus antibodies were detected in 16 out of 18 HB Ag positive cases and in 19 out of 27 HB Ag negative cases of acture viral hepatitis. Fifty percent of these HB Ag positive cases had titers suggestive of recent infection as against 33% of the HB Ag negative cases. The arbovirus antibody titers were determined in four out of six HB Ag positive cases that did not give a history of parenteral injections and in everyone of them the titers were suggestive of a recent arbovirus infection.