Medicine: Breakthrough: Hepatitis Virus Detected

Hepatitis virus detected

Some 100,000 Americans contract hepatitis each year from blood transfusions. In 90% of the cases, the culprit is a mystery virus that can be identified only by a process of elimination: when tests confirm that it is neither Type A nor Type B hepatitis, a diagnosis of nonA, non-B is made. For years scientists have sought to find the unseen villain. Last week researchers at the Food and Drug Administration announced a breakthrough.

In a paper published in the Lancet, Dr. Robert Gerety and his associates described a new virus...

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