ABSTRACT
Review was undertaken of 5 521 serum samples that had been tested to detect or confirm the presence of different hepatitis A, B, and delta serologic markers. The sources of the samples included a national reference laboratory, several outbreaks of viral hepatitis in civilian and military populations, and a serologic survey. They were examined using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The prevalence of antibody to hepatitis A virus was very high (x=92.2 percent) and it was uniform. Prevalence of hepatitis B markers was more variable and inconsistent; it was high in samples from the Jungle region of Perú, where the average prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was 4.9 percent. Antibodies to delta hepatitis were present in 28.6 percent of the carriers of HBsAg identified in the outbreaks. All the outbreaks had similarities, including a high, ciclic case-fatality rate associate with the delta virus. Hepatitis B is highly endemic in Perú, while hepatitis B has average endemicity. It will be necessary to do more research in order to better understand the epidemiology of viral hepatitis in this country