Clues to the hepatitis mystery

[Guest guest]

Elena Conis:

Esoterica Medica

Clues to the hepatitis mystery

December 25, 2006

Thirteen centuries ago, Pope Zacharias quarantined jaundiced patients to

stop liver sickness from spreading through Rome. But despite the fact that

researchers (and a pope) have long thought some forms of liver disease —

namely hepatitis — to be contagious, it took centuries of investigation

before a team of scientists discovered the cause of infection. Even then, it

was largely by chance.

The antigen was rare in the United States but common among Asians, Africans

and some Europeans. Attempting to make sense of the patterns, they looked

for the protein in populations around the globe. It often turned up in

people with leukemia and those who had blood transfusions. Down syndrome

patients were highly likely to have it in their blood, as were Japanese who

had lived in wartime Hiroshima.

But the first clue linking Australia antigen to liver disease came from

Claxton, Ga., where a local family doctor let the researchers test the blood

of several hundred of his patients. They found just one Claxton patient with

Australia antigen — and the patient happened to have hepatitis.

Blumberg's team continued screening populations for the antigen, now with a

new link in mind.

The most important clue tying the antigen to hepatitis came in 1966, from a

mentally ill patient in New Jersey named Bair. The patient had no

Australia antigen in early blood tests. But on a subsequent test the antigen

appeared. Bair, the researchers concluded, had been recently infected.

When they tested to see if Bair's liver function had changed, they found it

had. Since acquiring the Australia antigen, Bair had acquired the symptoms

of a mild case of hepatitis.

Over the course of the following year, Blumberg and colleagues continued

testing scores of hepatitis patients for the Australia antigen. In 1967,

they published their results: the Australia antigen, they concluded,

appeared to be the agent that caused one form of infectious hepatitis.

In time, Australia antigen was identified as part of the virus that causes

hepatitis B, which has infected nearly a third of the world's population and

still causes more than 350 million cases of chronic liver disease each year.

In a domino effect, Blumberg's 1967 discovery led to some of the greatest

advances in medicine in the last century. Hepatitis B's blood-borne

transmission route was revealed. Donor blood is now routinely screened for

the disease, at least in the United States. The discovery helped pave the

way for the identification, by researchers in the 1970s and '80s, of the

viruses that cause hepatitis A, C, D and E. In 1982, the first vaccine to

prevent a major form of cancer, the hepatitis B vaccine, was approved. And

just a few years before, Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for the research

that uncovered a long evasive virus.

Elena Conis

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-esoterica25dec25,1,6888434.column?c\

oll=la-headlines-health

_________________________________________________________________

From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes has

it all. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/

[Guest guest]

Elena Conis:

Esoterica Medica

Clues to the hepatitis mystery

December 25, 2006

Thirteen centuries ago, Pope Zacharias quarantined jaundiced patients to

stop liver sickness from spreading through Rome. But despite the fact that

researchers (and a pope) have long thought some forms of liver disease —

namely hepatitis — to be contagious, it took centuries of investigation

before a team of scientists discovered the cause of infection. Even then, it

was largely by chance.

The antigen was rare in the United States but common among Asians, Africans

and some Europeans. Attempting to make sense of the patterns, they looked

for the protein in populations around the globe. It often turned up in

people with leukemia and those who had blood transfusions. Down syndrome

patients were highly likely to have it in their blood, as were Japanese who

had lived in wartime Hiroshima.

But the first clue linking Australia antigen to liver disease came from

Claxton, Ga., where a local family doctor let the researchers test the blood

of several hundred of his patients. They found just one Claxton patient with

Australia antigen — and the patient happened to have hepatitis.

Blumberg's team continued screening populations for the antigen, now with a

new link in mind.

The most important clue tying the antigen to hepatitis came in 1966, from a

mentally ill patient in New Jersey named Bair. The patient had no

Australia antigen in early blood tests. But on a subsequent test the antigen

appeared. Bair, the researchers concluded, had been recently infected.

When they tested to see if Bair's liver function had changed, they found it

had. Since acquiring the Australia antigen, Bair had acquired the symptoms

of a mild case of hepatitis.

Over the course of the following year, Blumberg and colleagues continued

testing scores of hepatitis patients for the Australia antigen. In 1967,

they published their results: the Australia antigen, they concluded,

appeared to be the agent that caused one form of infectious hepatitis.

In time, Australia antigen was identified as part of the virus that causes

hepatitis B, which has infected nearly a third of the world's population and

still causes more than 350 million cases of chronic liver disease each year.

In a domino effect, Blumberg's 1967 discovery led to some of the greatest

advances in medicine in the last century. Hepatitis B's blood-borne

transmission route was revealed. Donor blood is now routinely screened for

the disease, at least in the United States. The discovery helped pave the

way for the identification, by researchers in the 1970s and '80s, of the

viruses that cause hepatitis A, C, D and E. In 1982, the first vaccine to

prevent a major form of cancer, the hepatitis B vaccine, was approved. And

just a few years before, Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for the research

that uncovered a long evasive virus.

Elena Conis

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-esoterica25dec25,1,6888434.column?c\

oll=la-headlines-health

_________________________________________________________________

From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes has

it all. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/

[Guest guest]

Elena Conis:

Esoterica Medica

Clues to the hepatitis mystery

December 25, 2006

Thirteen centuries ago, Pope Zacharias quarantined jaundiced patients to

stop liver sickness from spreading through Rome. But despite the fact that

researchers (and a pope) have long thought some forms of liver disease —

namely hepatitis — to be contagious, it took centuries of investigation

before a team of scientists discovered the cause of infection. Even then, it

was largely by chance.

The antigen was rare in the United States but common among Asians, Africans

and some Europeans. Attempting to make sense of the patterns, they looked

for the protein in populations around the globe. It often turned up in

people with leukemia and those who had blood transfusions. Down syndrome

patients were highly likely to have it in their blood, as were Japanese who

had lived in wartime Hiroshima.

But the first clue linking Australia antigen to liver disease came from

Claxton, Ga., where a local family doctor let the researchers test the blood

of several hundred of his patients. They found just one Claxton patient with

Australia antigen — and the patient happened to have hepatitis.

Blumberg's team continued screening populations for the antigen, now with a

new link in mind.

The most important clue tying the antigen to hepatitis came in 1966, from a

mentally ill patient in New Jersey named Bair. The patient had no

Australia antigen in early blood tests. But on a subsequent test the antigen

appeared. Bair, the researchers concluded, had been recently infected.

When they tested to see if Bair's liver function had changed, they found it

had. Since acquiring the Australia antigen, Bair had acquired the symptoms

of a mild case of hepatitis.

Over the course of the following year, Blumberg and colleagues continued

testing scores of hepatitis patients for the Australia antigen. In 1967,

they published their results: the Australia antigen, they concluded,

appeared to be the agent that caused one form of infectious hepatitis.

In time, Australia antigen was identified as part of the virus that causes

hepatitis B, which has infected nearly a third of the world's population and

still causes more than 350 million cases of chronic liver disease each year.

In a domino effect, Blumberg's 1967 discovery led to some of the greatest

advances in medicine in the last century. Hepatitis B's blood-borne

transmission route was revealed. Donor blood is now routinely screened for

the disease, at least in the United States. The discovery helped pave the

way for the identification, by researchers in the 1970s and '80s, of the

viruses that cause hepatitis A, C, D and E. In 1982, the first vaccine to

prevent a major form of cancer, the hepatitis B vaccine, was approved. And

just a few years before, Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for the research

that uncovered a long evasive virus.

Elena Conis

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-esoterica25dec25,1,6888434.column?c\

oll=la-headlines-health

_________________________________________________________________

From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes has

it all. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/

[Guest guest]

Elena Conis:

Esoterica Medica

Clues to the hepatitis mystery

December 25, 2006

Thirteen centuries ago, Pope Zacharias quarantined jaundiced patients to

stop liver sickness from spreading through Rome. But despite the fact that

researchers (and a pope) have long thought some forms of liver disease —

namely hepatitis — to be contagious, it took centuries of investigation

before a team of scientists discovered the cause of infection. Even then, it

was largely by chance.

The antigen was rare in the United States but common among Asians, Africans

and some Europeans. Attempting to make sense of the patterns, they looked

for the protein in populations around the globe. It often turned up in

people with leukemia and those who had blood transfusions. Down syndrome

patients were highly likely to have it in their blood, as were Japanese who

had lived in wartime Hiroshima.

But the first clue linking Australia antigen to liver disease came from

Claxton, Ga., where a local family doctor let the researchers test the blood

of several hundred of his patients. They found just one Claxton patient with

Australia antigen — and the patient happened to have hepatitis.

Blumberg's team continued screening populations for the antigen, now with a

new link in mind.

The most important clue tying the antigen to hepatitis came in 1966, from a

mentally ill patient in New Jersey named Bair. The patient had no

Australia antigen in early blood tests. But on a subsequent test the antigen

appeared. Bair, the researchers concluded, had been recently infected.

When they tested to see if Bair's liver function had changed, they found it

had. Since acquiring the Australia antigen, Bair had acquired the symptoms

of a mild case of hepatitis.

Over the course of the following year, Blumberg and colleagues continued

testing scores of hepatitis patients for the Australia antigen. In 1967,

they published their results: the Australia antigen, they concluded,

appeared to be the agent that caused one form of infectious hepatitis.

In time, Australia antigen was identified as part of the virus that causes

hepatitis B, which has infected nearly a third of the world's population and

still causes more than 350 million cases of chronic liver disease each year.

In a domino effect, Blumberg's 1967 discovery led to some of the greatest

advances in medicine in the last century. Hepatitis B's blood-borne

transmission route was revealed. Donor blood is now routinely screened for

the disease, at least in the United States. The discovery helped pave the

way for the identification, by researchers in the 1970s and '80s, of the

viruses that cause hepatitis A, C, D and E. In 1982, the first vaccine to

prevent a major form of cancer, the hepatitis B vaccine, was approved. And

just a few years before, Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for the research

that uncovered a long evasive virus.

Elena Conis

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-esoterica25dec25,1,6888434.column?c\

oll=la-headlines-health

_________________________________________________________________

From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes has

it all. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/