HEPATITIS-B VIRUS PREVALENCE IN A LIVER-BIOPSY SERIES IN JEDDAH, SAUDI-ARABIA

Liver biopsies from 228 patients, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were retros pectively reviewed. Autoimmune liver disease and alcoholic cirrhosis a re rare in this community, an observation confirmed in this series. Fo r both the chronic active hepatitis and the cirrhosis cases, 20% had e vidence of chronic hepatitis B infection. In a population known to hav e a chronic hepatitis B carrier prevalence of about 7%, this figure wa s unexpectedly low, though the findings are in accord with some other published series. There have been significant variations in different reports. For the hepatocellular carcinoma cases 62% were hepatitis B s urface antigen positive. In many cases of serious chronic liver diseas e in this community, the aetiology remains unknown.