1994 Volume 35 Issue 5 Pages 370-374
A 41-year-old male with a history of drug abuse and chronic hepatitis B with positive anti-HBe since 1981. He was first admitted to our hospital in March 1991 because of acute hepatic injury. During this admission, serological examination showed positive HCV-RNA and anti-HDV antibody, whereas HBsAg disappeared. Histological study of the first liver biopsy specimen revealed chronic persistent hepatitis with moderate inflammatory infiltrate in the sinusoid. It was suggested that superinfection of HCV on the carrier state of HBV and HDV. Follow-up serological examination revealed positive HCV-RNA and elevations of serum transaminases. As the second liver biopsy specimen showed chronic active hepatitis (CAH/2A), he was treated by Interferon-α from July to December in 1992. Thereafter HBsAg and HCV-RNA were negative. The present case suggests the possibility that the associated superinfection of HCV and HDV on HBV carrier contributes to the continuous disappearance of HBsAg in the course of chronic hepatitis B.
