DELTA ASSOCIATED HEPATITIS IN AUSTRALIA

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Abstract
Hepatitis B associated delta infection was found in Australian born narcotics users, patients with cirrhosis and hepatoma from Italy and Greece and in southeast Asian immigrants. Of patients with chronic hepatitis B, .apprx. 9% were found to have intranuclear delta antigen in liver biopsies with immunofluoresence or anti-delta antibody in serum by radioimmunoassay. Delta may have been imported from southern Europe and Asia and a reservoir of delta infection may exist in narcotics users. Anti-delta was not found in hemophiliacs despite exposure to hepatitis B. Delta occurs in Australia and causes acute and particularly chronic hepatitis in addition to that caused by hepatitis B.