Hepatitis B virus infection and liver disease in ethiopian immigrants to Israel
Corresponding Author
Edna Ben-Porath Ph.D.
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center, P.O. Box 9602, Haifa 31096, Israel===Search for more papers by this authorLea Hornstein
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorJerome Zeldis
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorJacob Nahmias
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorMignon Gruia
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorBatia Bilgoray
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorYehudit Satinger
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Edna Ben-Porath Ph.D.
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center, P.O. Box 9602, Haifa 31096, Israel===Search for more papers by this authorLea Hornstein
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorJerome Zeldis
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorJacob Nahmias
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorMignon Gruia
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorBatia Bilgoray
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorYehudit Satinger
Section of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory of Immunology, Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel
Gastrointestinal Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
We assessed infection with hepatitis B virus in 357 Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel. Hepatitis B virus infection, as measured by the presence in the serum of HBsAg, anti-HBs, or anti-HBc, started at an early age (35% at the age of 1 to 4 years) and reached an overall rate of 98% in individuals over 40 years old. A high rate of HBsAg antigenemia in the young age group (19% at the age of 1 to 8 years) was associated with HBeAg and serum hepatitis B virus DNA. However, hepatitis B virus DNA was rarely detected in HBsAg-positive serum of older individuals who were anti-HBe-positive. No hepatitis B virus DNA sequences were detected in the serum of individuals who had anti-HBs. Despite the extremely high rate of hepatitis B virus infection that occurred at an early age, no clinical evidence of chronic liver disease in this population was detected.
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