The Australia antigen and role of the late Philadelphia general hospital in reducing post-transfusion hepatitis and sequelae†‡

[Guest guest]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.24593/abstract

Comments from the Editors

The Australia antigen and role of the late Philadelphia general hospital in

reducing post-transfusion hepatitis and sequelae†‡

R. Senior M.D.1,*,§, W. London M.D.2, Alton I. Sutnick M.D.3Article

first published online: 25 AUG 2011

DOI: 10.1002/hep.24593

Copyright © 2011 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Issue

Hepatology

Volume 54, Issue 3, pages 753–756, 2 September 2011

Abstract

Baruch Blumberg, who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his

discovery of the Australia antigen, died on April 5, 2011. Arguably, that

discovery has been the most important advance in the field of Hepatology. It led

to the virtual elimination of transfusion related hepatitis B in most parts of

the world and was essential to the identification of hepatitis A, C, D and E

viruses. Credit for this is due Dr. Blumberg and teams in Philadelphia and

Tokyo. In lieu of an Associate Editor commentary, Drs. Senior, London, and

Sutnick, who were members of that remarkable team, tell us their inspiring

story. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)