HBeAg and anti-HBe were determined in the blood of 189 male blood donors. The incidence of HBsAg was 6.9% while that for HBeAg and anti-HBe was 1.6 and 18%, respectively. Of the 13 samples positive for HBsAg, two (15.4%) were positive for HBe while six (46.2%) were positive for anti-HBe. One specimen was negative for HBsAg but was positive for HBeAg and anti-HBe. The observations are discussed.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B e Antigens/analysis; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis
House dust mites and storage mites are well-known causes for allergenic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunogenic sites of Blomia tropicalis, Aleurogyphus ovatus and Glycycometus malaysiensis. The mites were maintained in a culture medium at 25ºC and 75% relative humidity. Mites were harvested either with heat escape or floatation method, purified, homogenized, quantified and used for the production of polyclonal antibody and immunostaining. For each species of mites, five male mice and five male rats were randomly selected and immunized intraperitoneally with respective crude mite extract at two-weekly intervals. Blomia tropicalis, A. ovatus or G. malaysiensis whole mites and paraffin-embedded mite sections were immunostained with the respective polyclonal antibody. The faecal pellets of mites were intensely stained for all the three species in the present study. The legs of sectioned A. ovatus were not immunogenic as compared with those of G. malaysiensis and B. tropicalis. The outer layer (cuticle) of whole mites and the eggs for these species were very immunogenic. Hence, the polyclonal antibodies obtained in this study may serve as potential tools in detecting the eggs and immature mites in environmental samples. Future studies should focus on the antigenic components of eggs since they were relatively abundant in dust and highly antigenic as seen in the present study.
Sera were obtained from 494 non-icteric patients admitted with illnesses other than overt hepatitis into the medical wards of the rural and urban hospitals in Malaysia. They were tested for HBsAg, HBeAg, and anti-HBs by enzyme immunoassay. The overall HBsAg carrier rate was 18.0% ranging from 9.6% in children, (10 years and under), to a maximum of 23.5% in the adolescents (11 to 20 years), the rates decreasing subsequently to 16.5% and 20.8% in the adult and middle-age groups, respectively. The Chinese (18.6%) and Malays (19.9%) had similar HBsAg carrier rates but the rate in the Indians (9.0%) was distinctly lower. Similar rates were observed in the males (16.5%) and the females (19.8%). The carrier rate was 17.1% in rural patients compared with 21.4% in the urban ones. The 'e' antigen was found in 14 of the 89 HBsAg carriers (15.7%). The overall prevalence was 14/494 (2.8%) rising sharply from childhood (2.9%) to adolescence (5.3%), subsequently declining with advancing age. The Chinese had the highest rate (6.2%) followed by the Indians (1.5%) and the Malays (1.1%). Males had a rate of 3.3% compared to the females with 2.3%. Anti-HBs was found in 33.8% of the patients, increasing steadily from childhood (18.3%) to middle-age (46.4%). The Chinese had a higher prevalence rate (41.6%) than the Indians (32.8%) and the Malays (29.3%). The rates were similar for the males (35.6%) and the females (31.5%). Rural patients (46.1%) had a higher rate than urban patients (35.7%). Both areas showed rising prevalence with increasing age.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B e Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis*
Sera from one hundred and fifty nine Malaysian individuals were screened for the prevalence of delta markers. These included 15 HBsAg positive homosexuals, 16 acute hepatitis B cases, 9 chronic hepatitis B patients, 13 healthy HBsAg carriers and 106 intravenous (i.v.) drug abusers, of whom 27 were positive for HBsAg only and the rest were anti-HBc IgG positive but HBsAg negative. The prevalence of delta markers in the homosexuals was found to be 6.7%, in the HBsAg positive drug abusers 17.8%, in acute hepatitis B cases 12.5%. No evidence of delta infection was detected in healthy HBsAg carriers, chronic hepatitis B cases and HBsAg negative i.v. drug abusers. With reference to i.v. drug abusers, the prevalence of delta markers was higher in Malays (23%) than in Chinese (7%) although the latter had a higher HBsAg carrier rate. Although the HBsAg carrier rate in the homosexuals was high, their delta prevalence rate was low as compared to drug abusers. In Malaysia, as in other non-endemic regions, hepatitis delta virus transmission appeared to occur mainly via the parenteral and sexual routes. This is the first time in Malaysia that a reservoir of delta infection has been demonstrated in certain groups of the population at high risk for hepatitis B.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Antigens/analysis; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis
Sera from 200 Malaysian male drug abusers were tested for markers of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, viz. HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc using commercially available enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits supplied by Abbot Laboratories, Chicago. Of these, 103 (51.5%) were positive for at least one HBV marker, 11 (5.5%) were positive for HBsAg; 4 (2%) for HBeAg, 74 (37%) for anti-HBs and 85 (42.5%) for anti-HBc. The HBsAg carrier rate was roughly the same as the carrier rate in the general population of Malaysia. The majority of drug abusers (95%) have had subclinical, asymptomatic HBV infection. Racially the Malay drug abusers had the highest exposure rate (54.2%). The HBsAg carrier rate was highest in the Chinese drug abusers (15.3%) and lowest in the Indians (0%). The mean age for the HBsAg carriers was found to be 26 years with a mean duration of drug abuse of 72 months. The Malaysian Anti-Narcotics Task Force of the National Security Council reported in the Malay Mail (July 13, 1985) that there were about 106,000 identified drug abusers in Malaysia and that 63% of these were in the 20-29 age groups. It appears from our study that this age group also coincides with the period of high HBsAg carrier rate. Age wise, those less than 21 years old had the highest HBsAg (11%) and HBeAg (5.6%) prevalence rates indicating high infectivity. After the age of 30 years, nearly 50% of the drug abusers appear to be immune with the HBe prevalence of 0%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B e Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis*
The incidence of HBsAg in random blood donors was found to be twice that of the prisoner population. The anti-HBe however, was about twice that in the prisoners when compared with the random blood donors. Both the random blood donors and the prisoners had similar incidence of HBeAg. The percentage frequency of HBsAg positivity with anti-HBe positivity was also similar in both groups. The 18 normal non-blood donors did not have HBsAg, HBeAg or anti-HBe.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B e Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis
A study of Kuala Lumpur blood donors for HBsAG, anti-HBc and DNA polymeraes showed that 5.5% in the sample population was positive for HBsAG, 50.1% for anti-HBc and 10.1% for DNA polymerase activity. There was no significant difference of the HBsAG among the Malay, Chinese and Indian groups. However, a significant difference was observed for the anti-HBc and DNA polymerase activity between the Indian and the Malay/Chinese groups. Both analysis were significantly lower in the Indians but there was no significant difference between the Chinese and the Malays.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Core Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of haematological malignancies categorized by ineffective hematopoiesis that result in dysplasia. Although morphological diagnosis is a traditional and standard technique that is used for the diagnosis of MDS, the heterogeneous blood and bone marrow characteristics of MDS patients can potentially obscure the right diagnosis. Thus, we have utilized flow cytometric immunophenotyping as a supportive mechanism to obtain a more accurate and faster method for detection of abnormal markers in MDS. Flow cytometry was used for analyzing bone marrow samples from newly diagnosed MDS patients to investigate the abnormal antigen expression patterns in granulocytic, monocytic, erythroid, lymphoid lineages and myeloid precursors. The results were compared with those obtained from cases that had Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) as a control. The most common abnormality found in the granulocytic lineage was the decrease of CD10. Low expressions of CD13 were the most frequent abnormality in the monocytic lineage. The erythroid lineage was found to have low expression of CD235A+/CD71+, reduce of CD71 and decreased CD235a. In conclusion, this method is useful for confirming cases in which it is difficult to make a diagnosis by morphology.
Hepatitis B surface antigen can be serologically defined as ayw1, ayw2, ayw3, ayw4, ayr, adw2, adw4 and adrq+ or adrq-. A study of common HBsAg subtypes in 44 HBsAg reactive sera in University Hospital was conducted using a solid-phase sandwich EIA. Eleven samples were found not typable and among the 33 typable HBsAg reactive sera, 3 HBsAg subtypes: adw, adr and ayw were identified. Subtype adw was found in 66.7% (22/33) of the typable HBsAg reactive sera; 24.2% (8/33) was of subtype adr and 6.0% (2/33) of subtype ayw. One sample was found to be reactive to both adw and adr. HBsAg subtype adw was found more commonly in Chinese but among the Malays, HBsAg subtype adr appeared to predominate. However, the small sample size precludes firm conclusions on the predominant subtype among the Malays.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis*
This study examined the prevalence of hepatitis B and C markers in 55 paediatric oncology patients who had completed treatment at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kota Baru. All these children had received blood products and had been treated between 1985-1996. Forty seven per cent of patients were positive for hepatitis B or C. Twenty nine per cent were positive for hepatitis C and twenty two per cent were HBsAg positive. Two children were positive for both and none were HIV positive. Four children had an elevated ALT level and one child had jaundice and hepatomegaly. Some children were marker-positive despite immunization and screening of blood.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis*
179 heterosexuals, selected for VDRL testing on the basis of a history of involvement in promiscuous sexual activity, mainly prostitution, had their serum also tested for hepatitis B infection markers, HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HBe. 51 samples (29%) were found to be positive for at least one of the three markers, at levels higher than the already high levels in voluntary random blood donors in Malaysia.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B e Antigens/analysis*; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis*
BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that certain genes within the major histocompatibility complex predispose to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and may influence clinical and autoantibody expression. Thus, we studied the frequency of HLA-DR, -DQA, -DQB and -DPB alleles in ethnic Malays with SLE to determine the role of these genes in determining disease susceptibility and their association with clinical and immunological manifestations.
METHODS: Fifty-six Malay SLE patients were enrolled into the study. Demographic, clinical and immunological findings were obtained from medical records. HLA-DR, DQ and DP typing were done using modified PCR-RELP. Controls were from ethnically-matched healthy individuals.
RESULTS: We found a strongly significant association of the DR2 and DQB1 *0501 and DQB1*0601 (pcorr = 0.03, rr = 3.83, pcorr = 0.0036, rr = 4.56 and pcorr = 0.0048 and rr = 6.0, respectively). There was also a weak increase of DQB1*0.201 and DPB1*0.0901 with a weak decrease of DQA1*0601 and DQB1*0503 and *0301 which were not significant after corrections for multiple comparisons were made. There was a significant positive association of DR2 and DQB1*0501 with renal involvement and DR8 with alopecia. A nonsignificant increase of DQB1*0503 in patients with photosensitivity was noted. Significant autoantibody associations were also found: DQB1*0601 with anti-Sm/RNP, DR2 with antiSSA (Ro)/SSB (La), and DR2, DQB1*0501 and *0601 with antibodies to ds DNA. There was no specific DR, DQ or DP associations with age of disease onset (below 30 years or those at or above 30 years).
CONCLUSION: Our data suggests the role of the HLA class II genes in conferring SLE susceptibility and in clinical and autoantibody expression.
Study site: SLE Clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Serum samples were obtained within 3 days of capture from 106 cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) in peninsular Malaysia. Fifty-two monkeys were trapped on the fringes of palm oil estates and 54 in dense primary jungle. Sera were tested for antibodies to hepatitis A virus (HAV) with a commercial radioimmunoassay. Twenty-four animals had detectable serum anti-HAV activity (6 of 52 from palm oil estate sites and 18 of 54 from primary jungle sites). Among monkeys at both sites, antibody prevalence was strongly correlated with animal weight: overall only four of 69 monkeys (6%) weighing less than 2.0 kg had serum anti-HAV antibodies, while 14 of 29 (48%) weighing 2.0 to 3.9 kg, and 6 of 8 (75%) weighing 4.0 kg or more, had serum anti-HAV antibodies. These data suggest that wild cynomolgus monkeys in Malaysian jungles become infected with HAV or an HAV-like virus at a rate comparable to that of humans in the same region, and raise the possibility of a sylvatic cycle for HAV.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Core Antigens/analysis
We studied the presence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) antibodies in a defined Malaysian population and examined the association, if any, between HCV and the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), using sensitive recombinant DNA second generation Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) test kits. This sero-prevalence study comprised 1,434 sera from eleven distinct groups comprising intravenous drug users (IVDU), haemophiliacs, male homosexuals, female prostitutes, healthy blood donors, staff of dialysis unit and laboratory personnel, chronic renal failure patients undergoing dialysis (CRFD), patients with liver cirrhosis, chronic active hepatitis, chronic persistent hepatitis and primary liver cancer. Except in laboratory personnel and dialysis staff, HCV antibodies were detected in each group of patients ranging from 3% in blood donors to 85% in IVDU. The main modes of HCV transmission identified were parenteral drug use, transfusion and/or dialysis related. The HBV was found to be the major viral etiological agent in 75% of chronic liver disease (CLD); while in 10% of cases both HCV and HBV were detected. HCV was implicated as the sole viral agent in only a small proportion (1.5%) of patients with chronic liver disease.
Matched MeSH terms: Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis