A prospective study in 268 patients of different pediatric ages affected with icteric hepatitis is presented, with a longitudinal follow-up of one year minimum. Different types of clinical evolution are described and related to the presence of HBs antigen. In 34 of the 268 patients HBs antigen was positive; in 20 of 28 patients with acute and long evolution, positivity of the antigen was transitory with an average of 46 days; in the remaining 8 of 28 patients it extended from 6 months to less than 2 years. The presence of HBs antigen is a risk that may be correlated with the tendency to extend the prolonged.