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HBsAg under a transmission electron microscope: the protein self assembles into virus-like particles. HBsAg (also known as the Australia antigen) is the surface antigen of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Its presence in blood indicates existing hepatitis B infection.
The structure of hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B virus is a member of the Hepadnavirus family. [11] The virus particle, called Dane particle [12] (), consists of an outer lipid envelope and an icosahedral nucleocapsid core composed of protein.
The virus was not discovered until 1966 when Baruch Blumberg, then working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discovered the Australia antigen (later known to be hepatitis B surface antigen, or HBsAg) in the blood of Aboriginal Australian people. [128]
Hepatitis B vaccination, hepatitis B immunoglobulin, and the combination of hepatitis B vaccine plus hepatitis B immunoglobulin, all are considered as preventive for babies born to mothers infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). [29] The combination is superior for protecting these infants. [29]
Hepatitis D is caused by the hepatitis D virus (HDV), or hepatitis delta virus; it belongs to the genus Deltavirus. HDV is similar to a satellite virus as it can only propagate in the presence of the hepatitis B virus, depending on the helper function of HBV for its replication and expression. It has no independent life cycle, but can survive ...
In 1970, David Dane first isolated the hepatitis B virion at London's Middlesex Hospital, and named the virion the 42-nm "Dane particle". [148] Based on its association with the surface of the hepatitis B virus, the Australia antigen was renamed to "hepatitis B surface antigen" or HBsAg.
Hepadnaviridae [a] is a family of viruses. [2] Humans, apes, and birds serve as natural hosts. There are currently 18 species in this family, divided among 5 genera. [3] Its best-known member is hepatitis B virus.
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 – April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepatitis B virus while an investigator at the NIH and at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. [3]