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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 122, No. 2: 218-225
Copyright © 1985 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

ANTIBODIES TO DELTA ANTIGEN IN ASYMPTOMATIC HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN-REACTIVE BLOOD DONORS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH OTHER MARKERS OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS

NRAPENDRA NATH1,, ISA K. MUSHAHWAR2, CHYANG T. FANG1, HELENE BERBERIAN1 and ROGER Y. DODD1

1Transmissible Diseases Laboratory, American Red Cross Laboratories 9312 Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814
2Hepatitis Research Department, Abbott Laboratories North Chicago, IL

Reprint requests to Dr. Nrapendra Nath

A total of 1,915 sera collected in 1979 from asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers were tested for delta antigen, antibody to delta antigen (anti-delta), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and antibody to hepatitis B e antigen (anti-HBe) in addition to HBsAg and its subtypes. These sera represented blood donated by volunteers to 49 of 57 regions of the American Red Cross located in nine geographic regions of the United States and Puerto Rico. A total of 72 (3.8%) sera had anti-delta activity while none had a detectable level of delta antigen. A significantly higher (p<0.01) prevalence of anti-delta (12.1%) was found in San Jose, California (Pacific Region); on the other hand, the East South Central region covering Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee had a significantly lower (p<0.05) prevalence (1.4%) of anti-delta when compared with all other regions combined. Anti-delta was, however, detected in all regions of the United States and in Puerto Rico. The cause of significant differences in the prevalence of anti-delta was not clear. The distribution of anti-delta was not associated with age, sex or blood type of the donor. Sixty-nine of 70 samples with anti-delta were found among the 1,527 samples that had either HBeAg or anti-HBe. And among 149 that lacked both HBeAg and anti-HBe, only one sample had anti-delta. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). The presence of anti-delta was not associated with HBsAg/ad (2.7%) or HBsAg/ay (4.6%)

antibodies; blood donors; hepatitis B antigens; hepatitis B virus


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