Abstracto

Profile of Hepatitis B ′e′ Antigen and Antibodies in Hepatitis B Seropositive Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh India

Anju Rani, Dr. Shama Tomar, Dr. Bichitrananda Swain

HBe Ag is a no particulate viral protein and also a marker of active replication in patients infected with Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). Hepatitis B ‘e’ antigen status is an important factor to know the prognosis and risk of infectivity in person infected with HBV. HBe Ag is an index of viral replication, infectivity, severity of disease and response to antiviral therapy. Seroconversion from HBe Ag positive to HBe Ag negative/anti HBe Ag positive phase usually heralds resolution of infection. Being an important milestone of chronic HBV infection HBe Ag status positive v/s negative is also a determinant of the mode of transmission of the virus. Development of chronic infection, following acute Hepatitis B, requires the expression of HBe Ag. Our aim was to know the seroprevalence of HBe Ag and antibody to HBe Ag (anti-HBe) in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) seropositive individuals. 6000 individuals were screened for HBs Ag. Detection of HBe Ag and Anti-HBe antibody was done by Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Roche diagnostics) on COBAS e 411immunoassay analyzer. HBe Ag seroprevalence of 13.08 % indicates high infectivity among HBV-infected individuals. Present study emphasizes the need for using various serological markers for diagnosis and screening of HBV infection.