Acute viral hepatitis in adults. Comparison of the radioimmunoassay and counterimmunoelectrophoresis methods of detecting HbsAg
R. P. Wenzel, C. D. Teates, Q. Galapon, R. Barczak, C. M. Ling and L. R. Overby
We compared the radioimmunoassay (RIA) and counterimmunoelectrophoretic
(CIE) methods in detecting hepatitis B antigen (HBsAG) in 407 acute and 336
convalescent sera of adults with viral hepatitis. The CIE method
demonstrated that 41% of acute and 28% of 14-to 17-day serum specimens were
HBsAg-positive. The RIA method demonstrated seropositivity in 60% of acute
and 56% of convalescent specimens (P less than .001). Eighty-four percent
of coded specimens initially positive for HBsAg by RIA were found to have
subtype antigenic determinants d or y; 92% of the HBsAg-negative controls
were negative for subtype antigens, confirming the specificity of the RIA
test. RIA subtyping data corroborated earlier work with immunodiffusion
techniques.