Hepatitis-B-surface antigen (HBsAg) in leprosy patients.

The detection of the presence of Hepatitis-B-Surface antigen (HBsAg) using Indirect Haemagglutination technique (IHA) was carried out in 134 Lepromatous Leprosy cases (LL), 22 Lepromatous Leprosy cases during ENL reaction (LL with ENL), 24 Borderline leprosy (BL) cases, 7 Borderline Tuberculoid cases (BT) and 31 control subjects. The maximum percentage positivity of 32% was seen in cases with LL as compared to 6.2% in controls. The difference was found to be statistically significant (P less than 0.01).