Success in antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B is supported by highly sensitive PCR-based assays for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA. Nucleic acid extraction from biologic specimens is technically demanding, and reliable PCR results depend on it. The performances of the fully automatic system COBAS AmpliPrep-COBAS TaqMan 48 (CAP-CTM; Roche, Branchburg, NJ) for HBV DNA extraction and real-time...

INTRODUCTION We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of "anti-HBc alone" among Syrian blood donors, highlighting the possibility of representing occult HBV infection. METHODOLOGY Sera of 3,896 healthy blood donors were tested for both HBsAg and anti-HBc. HBsAg-negative, anti-HBc-positive samples were further tested for the antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs), and "anti-HBc alone" sera were tested for ...

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is an obligate satellite of hepatitis B (HBV). Dual HDV/HBV infection associated with down-regulated HBV replication and fast progression to severe liver disease. Although HDV transmissible through exposure infected blood, data about in blood donors remain scarce. Between 2011 2021, 869,633 donations were collected from prequalified Dalian, China. In total, 1060 (0.1...

Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is still a topic of debate worldwide. It defined as the presence virus (HBV) DNA in serum and/or liver from HBsAg-negative subjects. OBI may lead to development cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. continues present several unique challenges organ transplantation despite availability an effective vaccine prevent HBV introduction oral therapy treat infection...

I read with interest the recently published article by Ramezani et al. [1] in your journal. The issue is important but all the aspects and clinical importance of the study are not clear. According to an international workshop on occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) in 2008 [2], OBI is defined as the presence of HBV DNA in the liver (with detectable or undetectable HBV DNA in the serum) of i...

BACKGROUND Japanese Red Cross (JRC) blood centers implemented anti-hepatitis B core antigen (HBc) screening in 1989 and 50-minipool (MP)-nucleic acid testing (NAT) in 2000. A systematic lookback study has been conducted to determine the hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission risk of donations drawn in the pre-hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and/or MP-NAT window phase and by donors with occult...

OBJECTIVE To study the impact of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in 115 consecutive anti-HIV-positive, hepatitis B surface antigen-negative patients, naive for antiretroviral treatment. METHODS Of these 115, 86 patients were followed for at least 6 months (range 6-36) with serial determinations of HIV RNA and HBV DNA by polymerase chain reaction and other laboratory tests. RESULTS ...

Background The presence of HBV DNA in the liver (with detectable or undetectable HBV DNA in the serum) of individuals tested HBsAg negative by currently available assays is defined occult B Infection (OBI). It remains a potential transmission threat and risk to HBV chronic infection. The purpose of this study was to determine the OBI prevalence among HBsAg negative subjects and to characterize ...

background blood born viral infections such as hepatitis b virus (hbv) are major concerns in chronic hemodialysis (chd) patients and hemodialysis units. undetected hbs ag in the presence of viral dna, occult hbv infection (obi), is a concern in the care of chd patients and hemodialysis unit as a mode of transmission. objectives in this case-control study we compare the frequency of obi in the c...

PURPOSE Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) among HIV positive patients varies widely in different geographic regions. We undertook a study to determine the prevalence of occult hepatitis B infection among HIV infected individuals visiting a health facility in South West Cameroon and characterized occult HBV strains based on sequence analyses. METHODS Plasma samples (n = 337), which previously...