Immunologic Distinction between I.H. and S.H.

Abstract

Infectious hepatitis and serum hepatitis have been distinguished in the past largely on epidemiologic grounds, the former being characterized by a shorter incubation period, high rate of contact transmission and presence of the infectious agent in the stool, and the latter by a longer incubation period and dissemination of the agent by parenteral means. Krugman and his associates¹ have identified two infectious agents capable of producing hepatitis: MS-1, which causes a highly contagious short-incubation disease; and MS-2, which produces a long-incubation disease having a low rate of contact transmission. In the article appearing in the current issue of the Journal . . .