How frequent are hepatitis B virus markers in adult patients with glomerular diseases in a low endemic country? A French study from Paris and Saint-Brieuc.

In order to appreciate the frequency of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with glomerular diseases in France, a low endemic country, we reviewed the series of patients biopsied in the years 1983-1989 in 2 departments of nephrology differing by the characteristics of the population. In Saint-Brieuc, where the population is almost exclusively Caucasian, with nearly no immigrant, HBsAg was not detected in any of the 86 patients. In Paris, a large number of patients come from highly or intermediately endemic regions.

[Safety of transfusion procedures: its various aspects, its various stages].

Despite considerable advances, transfusions still present major immunological and infectious dangers. Immunological accidents can be perfectly prevented by adhering to strict rules as regards the immediate risk, haemolysis, and satisfactorily prevented as regards late allo immunization. Safety concerning the transmission of viral or parasitic diseases is far from being absolute in spite of increasingly sophisticated tests performed on donors.

[Polycythaemia in a haemodialyzed anephric patient with hepatitis. Demonstration of erythropoietin secretion (author's transl)].

A 45-year-old woman who had undergone bilateral nephrectomy and splenectomy and who had been under haemodialysis since 1966 developed non-A non-B cytolytic hepatitis in October, 1978. Her haematocrit and haemoglobin levels had been stable at 39% and 6 g/dl respectively for more than one year when, two months after the onset of hepatitis, spontaneous improvement of anaemia was observed. This persisted side-by-side with hepatic cytolysis until march, 1980.

[B virus chronic hepatitis in the haemodialysed uraemic patient. Correlation between hepatic lesions and the presence of antigen e in 12 patients (author's transl)].

Twelve patients on haemodialysis for 6 months to 3 years contracted AgHBs positive hepatitis, 9 being also Ag e positive. They continued to carry the same antigens. Histological surveillance was begun from the 6th month of the disease onwards, with 2 to 4 repeated biopsies in 1,5 to 3,5 years in 9 patients, the last 3 having only one biopsy between the 8th and the 15th month.