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. 1971 Nov 13;4(5784):389–391. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5784.389

Australia Antigen and Hepatitis in Accra, Ghana

R H Morrow, F T Sai, L F Barker
PMCID: PMC1799482  PMID: 4330910

Abstract

Viral hepatitis in young adults in Accra, Ghana, is associated with Australia antigen (H.A.A.). Sera from 85 patients in hospital with viral hepatitis were available for determinations of H.A.A. Of the 16 patients whose serum was obtained within the first week of symptoms, 15 were positive. The only factor related to finding H.A.A. was the time between onset of symptoms and the collection of the serum sample. Persistence of H.A.A. was associated with persistence of jaundice in men but not in women. Previous epidemiological studies in Accra found no evidence for parenteral transmission of viral hepatitis and showed a shanty-town predilection pointing to faecal-oral transmission. It thus seems that H.A.A.-associated hepatitis is transmitted in West Africa either faecal-orally or by shanty-town associated arthropods. The finding that H.A.A. hepatitis is the usual hepatitis in young adults in Accra is in accord with the high prevalence of H.A.A. elsewhere in the general population in Africa and may be related to the high rate of cirrhosis and hepatoma in Africa.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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