Acute sporadic non‐A, non‐B hepatitis in Greece

Abstract

The influence of non‐A, non‐B (NANB) agent(s) on the aetiology of acute sporadic viral hepatitis and its possible transition to chronic hepatitis were studied. Acute sporadic NANB hepatitis was diagnosed in 134 (13.5%) of the 993 Greek adults who were admitted consecutively to the Western Attica General Hospital from February 1986 to September 1987. The male to female ratio was 2.1:1, and the mean age of the patients was 39.7 ± 17.5 years (range: 16–77 years). Serological markers of past hepatitis B virus infection were detected in 32.1% of the patients. Possible risk factors occurring within 6 months of the onset of hepatitis were parenteral drug abuse in 43 (32.1%), blood transfusions in 26 (19.4%), possibly iatrogenic in 22 (16.4%), homosexual practice in one (0.7%) and no recognized risk factors in 42 (31.4%) patients. The most common source of infection was parenteral drug abuse (65%) in patients less than 30 years old and unknown (41.9%) in patients older than 30 years old. Chronic hepatitis, defined by biochemical criteria, was observed in 55.6% of the cases irrespective of the risk factor. These data show that parenteral drug abuse made a significant contribution to the spread of NANB agent(s) but not homosexual practice and that the rate of chronicity was high.