Cirrhosis associated with the Australia antigen in an infant who acquired hepatitis from her mother.

A 19-week-old English girl developed acute viral hepatitis, which became chronic with persistent hepatosplenomegaly and abnormal liver function tests. Liver biopsy at 1 year showed an active cirrhosis with multinucleated giant cells. The Australia (Au) antigen was detected repeatedly in the infant's serum by immunodiffusion and by electron microscopy at the time of the acute attack and during the development of cirrhosis. She had apparently acquired the hepatitis from her mother, who had had jaundice at the end of pregnancy and for one month thereafter, and who was subsequently shown to be a carrier of Au antigen. Particles with surface projections resembling paramyxoviruses were observed in two of the later specimens of the infant's serum.