[Diagnostic significance of the detection of hepatitis B virus DNA in acute and chronic hepatitis].

1065 sera from patients with acute and chronic hepatitis-B-virus-(HBV-) infections, double infections (HBV, HAV, nonA-nonB, delta-Ag) as well as patients with HBs-Ag-negative hepatitis (HAV, nonA-nonB) and healthy subjects were investigated for the presence of hepatitis-B-virus-DNA using molecular hybridisation. The sensitivity of the method was 0.1 pg HBV-DNA/100 microliters. HBV-DNA could be detected in 62% of cases of HBs-Ag-positive sera with HBe-Ag, in 8.9% with anti-HBe and in 11% of e-marker free sera. In acute hepatitis HBV-DNA was present in 44%, in chronic hepatitis in 71% of HBe-Ag-positive sera. In HBs-Ag-negative sera containing only anti-HBc, HBV-DNA, depending on the anti-HBc-titre, was present in 13-24% of cases. HBV-DNA could not be detected in patients with HBV infections (anti-HBc and anti-HBs positive) in the past or in HBV-marker-negative hepatitis. Follow-up investigations on acute and chronic HBV-infections showed that the disappearance of HBV-DNA generally preceded the disappearance of HBe-antigen by about 2-3 weeks. In chronic hepatitis the time interval can amount to several months or years. Double infections with other hepatotropic viruses (nonA-nonB and delta-virus) can lead to a temporary suppression of HBV-DNA replication.