Prevalence of HBs-Ag in schistosomiasis: B-frequency in various stages of schistosomiasis.

The study included 916 schistosomal patients and 97 controls. The prevalence of HBs-Ag and anti-HBs was significantly higher in the bilharzial patients compared to controls. Their frequency was higher in the ascitic than the hepatosplenic group, and the difference between each and the simple group was highly significant. Cases with current jaundice showed highly significant frequency of both HBs-Ag and anti-HBs compared to those with no history or manifest jaundice at the time of study. In addition, cases with raised bilirubin, SGPT and SGOT showed significantly higher frequency of HBs-Ag and anti-HBs compared to cases having normal levels. On the other hand, the frequency was not affected by the level of serum alkaline phosphatases. As regards liver pathology, cases with mixed pathologic picture showed significantly higher frequency of both HBs-Ag an anti-HBs compared with those having pure schistosomal lesions.