Abstract

There is no report on the etiology of acute viral hepatitis in Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeast of Iran. We performed this study to compare the clinical, biochemical and demographic properties of acute viral hepatitis (AVH) in this province. Demographic and clinical data were collected from 263 patients with AVH. They were tested for HBsAg, IgM anti-HAV, IgM anti-HBc, IgM anti-HDV, or IgM anti-HCV. Numbers of patients with hepatitis A, B, C, D and non A-D were: 188 (75.5), 47 (17.9), 6 (2.3), 5(1.9) and 17(6.6), while mean ages were 6.1, 20.6, 20.2, 26.2 and 18.7 years, respectively. Hepatitis A patients presented with lower initial serum levels of bilirubin, ALT and AST, but higher alkaline phosphatase, and they were more likely to have anorexia, vomiting, fever, chills, abdominal pain and prodromal symptoms. Nearly all cases of AVH in children were due to Hepatitis A, whereas hepatitis B, C and D generally occurred in adults. There were some differences in clinical and laboratory findings regarding to the etiology. © 2008 Tehran University of Medical Sciences.