BACKGROUND Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is defined as the presence of HCV-RNA in liver or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in the absence of detectable hepatitis C antibody (anti-HCV) or HCV-RNA in the serum. Low concentrations of HCV-RNA may be detected in PBMCs of hemodialysis (HD) patients and this could have a great impact on the management of HD patients. OBJECTIVES...

The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in HBV surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative individuals is defined as occult HBV infection (OBI). OBI is related in some cases to infection with variant viruses (S-escape mutants) undetectable by HBsAg commercial kits. More frequently, however, it is due to infection with wild-type viruses that are strongly suppressed in their replication activity. OBI ma...

The event of mutations in the surface antigen gene of hepatitis B virus (HBV) results in undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen with positive/negative anti-hepatitis B core (anti-HBc) antibody status in serum and this phenomenon is named occult hepatitis B infection (OBI). The presence of anti-HBc antibody in serum is an important key for OBI tracking, although about 20% of OBI cases are nega...

In this issue of the Journal, BARBERÁ et al. [1] report on the detection of previously unsuspected Cytomegalovirus (CMV) pulmonary infection in the lungs of marrow transplant recipients who died with evidence of diffuse alveolar damage [1]. Detection of such "occult" infections is of great importance and would have major implications for the care of marrow recipients. Viral pneumonia has been t...

We hypothesized that some aseptic revision total knee arthroplasty failures are indeed caused by occult infection. This prospective study recruited 65 patients undergoing revision total knee arthroplasty. The mean follow-up period was 19 months. Collected synovial fluid was analyzed by Ibis T5000 biosensor (Abbott Molecular Inc, Ill; a multiplex polymerase chain reaction technology). Cases were...

BACKGROUND The North Eastern Region in India is endemic for canine heartworm disease but in clinics accurate diagnosis is some times difficult. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of occult infections for heartworm disease in canine in two geographical regions of North Eastern India. METHODS A total of 782 numbers of three categories of dogs namely, working dogs of mi...

The human parvovirus (HPV) is believed to be the causative agent of erythema infectiosum, or fifth disease. 1 Transient aplastic crisis linked to HPV infection has been described in several types of hemolytic anemias, congenital or acquired, such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, autoimmune hemolytic anemias, and hereditary spherocytosis.2-8 In some instances, the underlying hemolytic anemia...

Occult infections caused by indolent organisms may produce persistent back pain that may be difficult to diagnose. The usual findings considered indicative of spinal infection are not reliable in these cases. The authors describe nine patients who presented with occult infections of the lumbar spine. Two of the nine had no antecedent lumbar surgeries nor open wounds. The predominant organisms w...

Preoperative exclusion or confirmation of periprosthetic infection is essential for correct surgical management of patients with suspected infected joint prostheses. The sensitivity and specificity of [111In]WBC imaging in the diagnosis of infected total joint prostheses was examined in 28 patients and compared with sequential [99mTc]HDP/[111In]WBC scintigraphy and aspiration arthrography. The ...

Overall 475 boys and 486 girls, aged 7 to 11 years were evaluated. A total of 384 (40%) children were diagnosed as H. pylori positive by the stool test. A higher prevalence of H. pylori was found in the stools of individuals who consumed well water and municipal tap water when compared to boiled water (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the rate of H. pylori infection and indi...