Subclassification of hepatitis B virus carriers

ABSTRACT

Hepatitis B virus [HBV] carriers are sub-categorised as [supercarriers] and [ordinary carriers] according to their HBeAg/anti-Hbe status. This subcategorization helps in the determination of grade of infectivity, viral activity, as well as therapeutic considerations in these cases. Between January 1990 and December 1993, 405 HBV carriers were evaluated for their serum [e] antigen/antibody status and out of these 129 [32%] and 246 [61%] cases were found to be HBeAg and anti-HBe positive respectively, whereas 30 [7%] carriers were doubly negative. There were no age or sex-related differences in the two groups. In conclusion, nearly one third of our HBV carriers were HBeAg positive "supercarriers" with a potentioal of high grade of infectivity. The finding is important regarding the active/passive prophylaxis of the off springs of HBeAg positive mothers