Labrea hepatitis--hepatitis B and delta antigen expression in liver tissue: report of three autopsy cases.

Latarea Hepatitis (Labrea Black Fever) is a severe liver disease found in several hamlets of the Amazon Region, where microepidemics are reported. This morbid condition is known to occur specifically in this region, where chil­ dren and young adults are mainly affected.-. The clinical picture is similar to that seen in fulminant forms of viral and toxic hepatitis, and courses with a high degree of lethality... Pathological studies have shown diffuse liver damage, with an outstanding degree of hepato­ cellular necrosis and degenerative phenomena, among which the most striking one is fatty change mainly of the microvacuolar type .. This pattern, in which small fat droplets sur­ round a centrally placed nucleus, has been cal­ led "morula-like" cells by Brazilian authors and is thought to be a distinctive feature of Labrea Hepatitis, as compared with other forms of fulminant hepatitis >. Recent studies suggest that the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) might be related, at least partially, to the etiopathogenesis of this disease U.