Clifton R. Gravelle

e Antigen, Dane Particles, and Serum DNA Polymerase Activity in HBSAg Carriers

Sera of 103 carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen were assayed for e-antigen and anti-e. Twenty-four were e-antigen-positive, 31 anti-e-positive, and 48 had neither detectable (e-negative). Aminotransferases were elevated in 75% of the e-antigen-positive carriers compared with 25% of e-negative carriers (P less than 0.001) and 13% of anti-e-positive carriers (P less than 0.001). Serum DNA polymerase activity was significantly higher in the e-antigen-positive carriers than in carriers without e-antigen. Dane particles were shown in 10 of 12 carriers with e-antigen, compared with one of 12 e-negative carriers (P less than 0.0003) and none of 12 anti-e-positive carriers (P less than 0.00003). These results suggest that ongoing hepatitis B viral replication is more active in e-antigen-positive carriers than in carriers without e-antigen, a finding that may help explain the high prevalence of chronic active hepatitis described in these individuals.

Circulating interferon in infants and children with acute respiratory illness

Serum samples from two groups of patients hospitalized with viral respiratory disease were tested for interferon. The first group consisted of 41 infants and young children whose unfrozen sera were tested soon after collection. The second group contained 22 infants and children whose sera had been frozen for at least two years before being tested. Etiological evidence, by isolation and/or antibody rise, for virus infections was found in 29 patients in the first group, and in all patients in the second group. An interferon-like inhibitor was found in acute sera of 4 children with respiratory syncytial virus infection, in 2 with influenza A, and in 3 with influenza B.

Paralytic Disease Due to Infection with Echo Virus Type 9

DURING the past two years infections with ECHO virus Type 9 have been widespread in the United States. In 1957 they appeared in epidemics in Minnesota1 and in Wisconsin.2 Their prevalence in the Bo...