Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Hepatitis B in symptomless Danish homosexual men.
  1. L K Munck,
  2. C S Petersen,
  3. K Bech,
  4. A C Thomsen,
  5. S Kroon,
  6. A M Worm,
  7. G L Wantzin,
  8. J Gerstoft
  1. Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.

    Abstract

    Forty eight symptomless homosexual men attending a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic and found by screening to have hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were followed up for a median of 10 (range six to 26) months to characterise their liver disease. Initially 33/50 (66%) of the men had increased serum liver enzyme activity and 19/47 (40%) had increased serum immunoglobulin G concentrations. Liver biopsy specimens showed acute hepatitis B in 12 (39%) and chronic hepatitis B in 19 (61%) of the 31 patients who underwent liver biopsy. The course of the infection was: acute hepatitis B in 14/48 (29%), chronic persistent hepatitis B in 23/48 (48%), chronic aggressive hepatitis B in 8/48 (17%), and cirrhosis in 3/48 (6%) of the patients. Antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were present in 16/45 (36%) of the patients, but the presence of antibodies to HIV did not influence the course of hepatitis B in the observation period.

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.