LIVER PATHOLOGY IN RURAL SOUTH-WEST CAMEROON

In a prospective study, 102 hospital patients with liver disease were evaluated in West Cameroon, Africa. Blood donors, pregnant women and p atients without liver disease served as controls. A total of 757 indiv iduals were tested for markers of hepatitis A, B, C and D and for immu nological markers (autoantibodies, procollagen III, alpha-foetoprotein , CA50 antigen, alpha-1-antitrypsin and antibodies to human immunodefi ciency virus types 1 and 2). One-third of the liver disease patients h ad focal lesions on ultrasound examination. Histologically, 20 cases o f cirrhosis, 14 cases of chronic hepatitis, 15 hepatocellular carcinom as and 17 cases of acute hepatitis were detected. All hepatic patients and virtually all controls had had a previous hepatitis A virus infec tion. Over 85% of adult patients and controls had at least one marker of hepatitis B virus infection. Over 30% of patients with liver diseas e had markers of possible hepatitis B virus replication, Antihepatitis C virus antibody was present in 18% of hepatic patients and in 6% of controls. Hepatitis C virus infection seems to play an important role in the development of chronic liver pathology; 40% of cirrhotic patien ts had a combined hepatitis B and C virus infection. Serum autoantibod ies were frequently found and were not correlated with the presence of autoimmune liver disease.