Hepatitis B or non-A, non-B virus infection in multitransfused thalassaemic patients.

Abstract

A 4 yr study of 128 thalassemic patients who had undergone several transfusions was performed to determine the incidence of hepatitis B virus markers and the activities of transaminases in their sera each month. The possibility of these patients contracting hepatitis B virus infection is still high, although on only one occasion was a transient antigenemia found, indicating low viral replication. The probability of contact with hepatitis B virus increases with the number of transfusions and, therefore, with age. About 25% of these patients were positive for hepatitis B markers and 80% for other hepatitis markers including the case of cytomegalovirus hepatitis.