Virus-like particles in sera of patients with infectious and serum hepatitis.

In a prospective study of patients with serum hepatitis, 46 (74%) of 62 had Australia antigen in their serum. This high frequency of detectable antigen was probably due to sampling at weekly intervals during the acute phase of the disease. Antigen became detectable 35 to 120 days after exposure to contaminated blood products and persisted for one week to three months in 42 patients, and for more than ten months in 4 patients. Two of 128 healthy chimpanzees and one of 14 healthy gibbons also had the antigen. Antigens found in sera of patients with infectious or serum hepatitis and in ape sera were immunologically identical. Electron microscopy revealed morphologically similar virus-like particles both in sera from patients with hepatitis and from healthy apes. Australia antigen appears to be hepatitis virus itself, and a single virus group may be responsible for both infectious and serum hepatitis.

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