LIVER-DISEASE IN PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA 1981 TO 1988, 20 YEARS AFTER THE FIRST SURVEYS WERE DONE

Twenty years after the first surveys of liver disease were done cirrho sis and hepatocellular carcinoma were still found to be the most impor tant liver diseases in Papua New Guinea. Hepatitis B virus appears to be the main cause of both these conditions. Data from a number of diff erent sources suggest a prevalence of hepatitis B positivity of about 17%. The most significant new finding was grade 3 iron deposition in 8 patients, This raises the question as to whether iron storage disease may now contribute to the spectrum of liver disease in Papua New Guin ea, Many biopsies in the 1960s and 1980s were interpreted as nonspecif ic hepatitis; in the light of recent observations, at least some of th ese may have been due to hepatitis C infection.