[Determination of haptoglobin phenotypes using electrophoresis in viral hepatitis B, HBsAg carriers and normal subjects].

Haptoglobin (Hp) phenotype distribution has been examined in 193 patients with an acute icteric form of hepatitis B (HBsAg+), in 36 chronic HBsAg carriers, and in 317 normal controls. The incidence rates of three Hp types have been virtually the same in the acute patients and in the controls. In chronic HBsAg carriers the Hp 1-1 type has been detected 3 times more frequently than in acute hepatitis B patients and 4 times more frequently than in normal subjects. The authors suppose that the presence of Hp 1-1 type is one of the genetic factors that determine (in case of a hepatitis B infection) the liability to the development of a chronic subclinical infectious process and not of an acute form of this infection.