Detection of antibody to hepatitis Bs-antigen in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis as measured by a modified procedure of the radioimmunoassay Ausria I 125.

A simple modification of the radioimmunoassay Ausria I 125 was employed for detecting anti-HBs using the inhibition of a constant amount of HBs Ag. Anti-HBs was demonstrated in up to 82% of follow-up patients recovering from viral hepatitis B and in 79% of hemophilia patients. The antibody was found in 3.4% of healthy blood donors and in 10% of family contacts of patients with acute HBs Ag-positive viral hepatitis. The frequency of anti-HBs in 44 patients with HBs Ag-negative chronic aggressive hepatitis or cryptogenic liver cirrhosis (23%) did not differ significantly as compared with the occurrence of anti-HBs in 58 patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis (16%). These findings give further support to the suggestion that the hepatitis B virus does not contribute to the aetiology of HBs Ag-negative chronic active hepatitis.