Serum level of interferon alpha in patients with acute viral hepatitis B.

The serum level of interferon alpha (INF alpha) in patients with different clinical forms of acute viral hepatitis during the first 10 days, from day 11 to day 20, and after day 20 of the onset of jaundice was studied using the radioimmunoassay test of ABBOTT (ABBOTT-RIA). The patients were tested for presence of HBsAG and anti-HBs three months after the disease was over. 79.16% of the patient were found to have an elevated serum level of INF alpha during the first ten days of the onset of jaundice, this percentage decreasing in the days after that. The mean INF alpha levels were higher in the severer clinical forms of disease but the differences were not statistically significant. The highest INF alpha levels were found in acute hepatic insufficiency. The patients who tested negative for HBsAg three months after being discharged from hospital had significantly higher mean levels of INF alpha during the first 10 days of the onset of jaundice in comparison with the other carriers of this antigen.