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.