The Importance of Hepatitis B Infection in the Aetiology of Chronic Hepatitis: A Sydney Hospital Experience

Abstract

The importance of hepatitis B infection in the aetiology of chronic hepatitis: a Sydney hospital experience. G. W. McCaughan, C. Parsons, R. G. Batey and N. D. Gallagher, Aust. N.Z. J. Med., 1982, 12, pp. 19–21. This is an analysis of the role of the hepatitis B virus as an aetiological factor in forty‐two patients with either chronic active or chronic persistent hepatitis. Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia was present in seven of 27 patients with chronic active and in seven of 15 with chronic persistent hepatitis. In patients without hepatitis B surface antigenaemia, other hepatitis B markers were found in seven patients although their presence was thought unlikely to have aetiological significance. This report suggests a substantial contribution of hepatitis B infection to the cause of chronic hepatitis in Sydney.