Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be classified into nine immunological subtypes or eight genotypes. The most prevalent genotypes in Asia are genotypes B and C. HBV is transmitted parenteraly and can produce either asymptomatic or symptomatic disease. Although the consequences of acute hepatitis B can be severe, serious sequelae are associated with chronic infections. HBV seroprevalence ranges from i...

Occult HBV infection (OBI) is defined as HBV DNA detection in serum or in the liver by sensitive diagnostic tests in HBsAg-negative patients with or without serologic markers of previous viral exposure. OBI seems to be higher among subjects at high risk for HBV infection and with liver disease. OBI can be both a source of virus contamination in blood and organ donations and the reservoir for fu...

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 ...

INTRODUCTION The collection of recyclable waste materials is a widespread activity among the urban poor. Today, this occupation attracts an increasingly large number of individuals. Despite its economic and environmental importance, this activity is associated with unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroepidemiological profile of hepatitis B vi...

We read with great interest the article, “efficacy of hepatitis B vaccine in those who lost hepatitis B surface antigen during follow-up” by Taheri et al. published in Hepatitis Monthly (1). In this article, the authors assessed the efficacy of HBV vaccine in those who lost their HBsAg without seroconverssion to anti-HBs antibody with no detectable anti-HBs antibody and HBV DNA in their sera. T...

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...

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...

BACKGROUND Reactivation of occult or inactive Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection during immunosuppressant treatments is well known and widely described in literature. The same observation has been made in Hepatitis C (HCV)-infected patients previously exposed to HBV and treated with interferon-free DAA treatments. Because of common transmission routes, persons may have been exposed to HCV, HBV a...

BACKGROUND To reduce the rate of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis B virus (HBV), HBV DNA testing was introduced for all Dutch blood donations in 2008, in addition to the existing screening for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). This study describes the lookback results for repeat donors with an "HBV DNA-only" test result (HBV DNA-positive and HBsAg-negative). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS From November...