ACUTE NON-A, NON-B HEPATITIS IN KUWAIT

In a prospective study of acute hepatitis in Kuwait covering the period February 1983 to January 1984, a total of 1781 cases were diagnosed as having an acute viral hepatitis. 1384 (77.7%) were found to be due to hepatitis A virus (HAV), 206 (11.5%) hepatitis B virus (HBV), 8 (0.4%) coinfection with HBV and delta virus (HDV), 8 (0.4%) superinfection of HDV on chronic HBsAg carriers and 157 (9%) non-A, non-B virus (NANB). 13 cases of CMV and 5 of EBV infections were also diagnosed. NANB viral hepatitis was a disease of young adults (mean age 29 years) with a male-female ratio of 3:1. A high incidence was noted among males from the Indian subcontinent (29.1/100 000 of population, compared to 5.4/100 000 among local Arabs), the majority of whom gave a history of recent visit to the Indian subcontinent. The clinical features and biochemical findings of acute NANB infection were found to be less severe than those of acute HBV infection and similar to acute HAV infection. Three patients (2.3%) with acute NANB virus infection developed chronic hepatitis (all women), and another 3 patients died because of fulminant hepatitis.