Natural seroconversion from HBe-Ag to antibody in chronic Hepatitis B infection

Abstract

Anti-HBe survey in 2326 HBsAg positive blood donors revealed a HBeAb increase of 20.1% in females of 20th and 30th generations, but 9.7% in males almost invariably at ages from 25 to 36. In HBeAg positive donors, the GPT level was abnormal in 234 (46.8%) of 500 males andmore mildly (p<0.001) in 61 (29.0%) of 210 females. This indicated only a mild hepatic dysfunction in females at lower ages than males and suggested the possibility of a higher rate of seroconversion from HBeAg to HBeAb. The yearly seroconversion rate amounted to 9.1% in ASC (6.5% hepatic dysfunction patients and 1.3% normals). Histologically, seroconversion occurred in none of 17 NSRH or 20 CPH, but 5 (9.8%) of 51 chronic active liver diseases type B. Elevation of S-GPT above 200U during seroconversion from HBeAg to HBeAb was noted in 7 of seroconverted 11 cases (63.7%), which were mostly CAH (2A).