[Electron microscopic research in non-A, non-B viral hepatitis with a fecal-oral mechanism of infection transmission]

Abstract

Fecal specimens collected in the early stage of the disease from hepatitis patients classified by serological, clinical, and epidemiological data as non-A-non-B hepatitis were examined by means of cross immune electron microscopy. Extracts of feces from such patients were found to contain full, semi-empty, and empty virus particles without envelopes, 27-30 nm in size, forming immune complexes only in the presence of acute and convalescent sera from patients with this type of hepatitis. The lack of serological crosses with hepatitis A and non-A-non-B viruses isolated in other regions suggests that this virus is antigenically distinct. The final solution requires further studies in which methods of molecular biology of viruses should be used.