Hepatitis B antigen and antibody in patients with leprosy: a study of three resettlement villages in Thailand.

It remains uncertain whether the cellular immune abnormalities of patients with lepromatous leprosy interfere with resolution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. To investigate this question in an area coendemic for the two diseases, we determined the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody (anti-HBs) in: 1) 204 leprosy patients living in three leprosy resettlement villages; 2) 198 contacts living in the same villages; and 3) 44 newly diagnosed leprosy patients in Thailand. Within the villages, the prevalence of HBsAg positivity was inversely related to age, tended to be more frequent in patients with tuberculoid than lepromatous leprosy, and was similar after age adjustment among persons with and without leprosy. The prevalence of HBV markers found in newly diagnosed patients was similar to that in the villagers. We conclude that extensive HBV transmission had occurred in the resettlement villages and that the natural history of HBV infection was similar in persons with, whether tuberculoid or lepromatous, and without leprosy.