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Hepatitis A-virus particles in stools of patients from a natural hepatitis outbreak in Germany

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Abstract

During a hepatitis outbreak in Southern Germany 27 nm particles were visualized by immune electron microscopy in stools of two patients. These particles were sereologically identical or similar to hepatitis A-virus particles identified in the USA. The buoyant density of these particles was 1.34 g/cm3 as shown by cesium chloride density centrifugation.

The particles were first observed in small numbers in a stool obtained 11 days, and in large numbers in stools obtained 6 and 7 days before the onset of jaundice. Few particles were seen on the day of the onset of jaundice and none thereafter.

In both patients a sereoconversion to hepatitis A-virus as judged by immune electron microscopy could be demonstrated.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. med. R.-E. Bader zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet

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Flehmig, B., Frank, H., Frösner, G.G. et al. Hepatitis A-virus particles in stools of patients from a natural hepatitis outbreak in Germany. Med Microbiol Immunol 163, 209–214 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02126679

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