Hepatitis associated antigen (HAA) in pregnant women and their newborn infants.

Abstract

Neonatal hepatitis or giant-cell hepatitis is assumed to be a multi-etiologic syndrome.1In some of the patients, however, the disease obviously is viral in origin and the significance of viral hepatitis in the mother during pregnancy has been discussed.2,3 Determination of hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA), a virus-like particle intimately related to long-incubation hepatitis (SH,MS-2),4,5now seems to offer the opportunity to study the possible transmission of SH from pregnant women to their newborn. The published case reports, however, have shown somewhat contradictory results. Material and Methods This investigation is based on a large-scale screening of all Danish pregnant women for HAA; the concluding findings will be published elsewhere. Sera from 70,000 pregnant women were examined for HAA in an eight-month period; 82 carriers of the antigen were detected (1.2%). The carriers were followed-up until delivery and cord blood was obtained from the newborns. The children are currently being