Acute exacerbation in chronic hepatitis B virus infection

A case of an acute exacerbation of liver injury in a chronic HBV infected young male is reported. The correlation between the severe symptomatic hepatitis is done with the histopathologic findings of extense areas of bridging necrosis on the Iwer biopsy. The serological pattern for markers of HBV (H...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
Main Authors: Marcio Vieira Santos, Maria Irma Seixas Duarte, Antonio Alci Barone
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 1996
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S0037-86821996000300009
https://doaj.org/article/9b37862040ec425f967d1619a03cc6fb
Description
Summary:A case of an acute exacerbation of liver injury in a chronic HBV infected young male is reported. The correlation between the severe symptomatic hepatitis is done with the histopathologic findings of extense areas of bridging necrosis on the Iwer biopsy. The serological pattern for markers of HBV (HBsAg +, anti HBs g -, HBeAg -, anti HBe +, anti HBcIgG + and IgM -) confirm a chronic infection, ana the authors propose that the episode of severe hepatitis relates to the recent spontaneous seroconvertion of HBe Ag to anti HBe. Other causes of hepatitis were excluded, and the control liver biopsy (6 months later) showed normalization of hepatic architecture and absence of markers of viral replication in tissue and serum. A review of literature is done in an attempt to elucidate the diagnostic possibilities in this case, with emphasis on new immunoassays useful in differentiating between acute hepatitis B and acute exacerbation of a chronic hepatitis by the same virus.