REACTIVATION OF HEPATITIS B AFTER TRANSPLANTATION OPERATIONS

Surveillance of the staff and patients at the Cambridge Transplant and Dialysis Unit for hepatitis-B infection since 1968 has revealed the onset of antigenæmia in 6 patients in eight years. When the first serum of each patient admitted was examined for anti-HBc antibody, 23 of 380 (6.1%) patients were found positive. Since the presence of anti-HBc is taken to be evidence of previous infection, the occurence of antigenæmia in 3 of the positives when they were immunosuppressed after transplantation is believed to be due to reactivation of latent infection. This is a new factor to be considered in the control of hepatitis B after transplantation.