Acute unidentified hepatitis in a hypogammaglobulinaemic patient on intravenous gammaglobulin successfully treated with interferon.

A 59-year-old male with acquired hypogammaglobulinaemia since 1978 developed a fulminant hepatitis. The hepatitis appeared after two years intravenous treatment with Sandoglobulin (Sandoz, Switzerland). No virus markers could be detected in the body fluids or liver tissue. Blood transfusions had not been given within one year before development of the liver disease. There was strong suspicion that the patient had acquired non-A non-B hepatitis from the gammaglobulin infusions. Treatment with alpha-interferon ran parallel to a normalization of the pathological liver enzymes and the histology of the liver. This observation suggests a direct antiviral effect of alpha-interferon, despite the anecdotical and noncontrolled character of these data.