Australia Antigen

Australia Antigen

Write short answer on Australian antigen.

Answer. A scientist named Blumberg and his coworkers in 1965 describe a protein antigen in serum of an Australian aborigine which gave positive precipitation reaction with sera from two hemophiliacs who had received multiple transfusions.

This antigen was named as Australian Antigen.

“Preventing Transmission Of Australia Antigen”

1. HBsAg is known as AustraliaAntigen and was established to be the surface component of hepatitis B virus.

2. Australian antigen consists of two diffrent antigenic determinants i.e.

• A group specifi antigenic determinant a
• wo pairs of type specifi antigens d y and w r. In these only one member ofeach pair is present at a time.

“Managing Australia Antigen Positivity In Patients”

3. Australia antigen on the basis of type specifi pairing is divided in four types i.e.

• adw is worldwide in distribution
• adr in Asia
• ayw in Africa, India, Russia
• ayr in Africa, India, Russia

“The Role Of Australia Antigen In Diagnosing Hepatitis B”

4. Various additional surface antigens i.e. q, x, f, t, j, n and g are described, but their characterization is not done.

Electron microscopy of serum of hepatitis B patients show three types of particles, i.e.

• Spherical particle: It is most abundant and is 22 nm in diameter.
• Tubular particle: It is of varying length and is 22 nm in diameter.
• Dane Particle: It is double sheilded spherical structure which is 42 nm in diameter. This particle is complete hepatitis B virus.

“Treating Hepatitis B Linked To Australia Antigen”

5. The spherical and tubular particles are antigenically identical and are surface subunits of hepatitis B virus Australia antigen (HBsAg).