Abrar Shaikh, Aftab Hussain Shah, Azizullah Jalbani, Imdad Ansari, Ghulam Yasin.
Persistance of HBsAg in adults, after acute infections.
Med Channel Jan ;11(2):43-5.

OBJECTIVE: To see the proportion of persistence of HBsAg in adults after acute HBV infections. MATERIAL & METHODS: This prospective study was conducted from September 2002 to September 2004 in the department of medicine, CMC Hospital Larkana on 100 patients. Inclusion criteria were, patients of either sex who present in ward with jaundice of less than 06 weeks duration, age between 15-45 years, with no prior history of jaundice, having no signs of chronic liver disease. HBsAg and Anti HBcIgM present in their blood. HBeAg absent with normal serum albumin level and had prolonged prothrombin time. Clinical examination and abdominal ultrasonography revealed enlarged liver with normal diameter of portal vein. RESULTS: After 06 months, 55 (55%) patients out of 100 cases still had HBsAg in their blood, 49 (72%) patients were males out of 68 male cases and 06 ( 18.7%) patients were females out of 32 female cases. CONCLUSION: Many patients from areas of upper Sindh and lower Balochistan are infected with HBV and many are carriers. Clearance of HBsAg is low, suggesting long term follow up specially in males. More prospective studies are required to prove this conclusion..

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