HIGH-FREQUENCY OF HBEAG-MINUS CHRONIC HBSAG-POSITIVE LIVER-DISEASE INEGYPT

The aim of this study was to establish if a correlation exists between the HBe antigen/anti-HBe-antibody profile (HBeAg/anti-HBe) and the he patitis B virus DNA (HBV-DNA) among patients in Egypt with chronic liv er disease induced by the hepatitis B virus, The results revealed that 44 out of 100 patients with chronic HBsAg-positive liver disease were also HBV-DNA-positive, Of these 44 cases, 5 (11.3%) were HBeAg-positi ve, 18 (41.0%) anti-HBe-positive and 21 (47.7%) negative for both mark ers, This finding showed that HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B repre sents more than 80% of chronic hepatitis B cases in Egypt, suggesting that the HBeAg-minus variant of the hepatitis B virus characterizes th e major infective agent,