The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with haematological malignancies is increased compared with the general population worldwide. HBV reactivation is common following chemotherapy and is associated with a high mortality despite prompt anti-viral treatment. HBV reactivation may necessitate interruption of chemotherapy with adverse prognostic consequences for the haema...

A total of 250 hepatitis B surface antigen positive sera were screened for antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen. It was found that seven (3%) sera showed concurrently circulating surface antigen and surface antibody to hepatitis B virus. The level of antibody to surface antigen was not affected by HBeAg and most of the cases were found in chronic hepatitis B carriers.

In this cross-sectional study, 207 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative kidney transplant recipients were evaluated based on demographic and epidemiological data and on the levels of serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus infection and liver enzymes. Patients with HBV or human immunodeficiency virus infection were excluded. Sera were analysed for the presen...

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: approximately 600,000 deaths occur every year as a result of the acute and chronic consequences of hepatitis b virus infection. ten different hepatitis b virus genotypes have been identified with distinct geographical distributions. different clinical outcomes, including the rate of mutations, development of hepatocellular carcinoma, chronicity, response to treatment, transplantatio...

BACKGROUND Detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes without detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs-Ag) is termed occult HBV infection (OHBV) that may be transmitted by blood transfusion or organ transplantation and has acute reactivation when an immunosuppressive status like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection occurs. We aimed to evaluate OHBV in HIV-infected patients with iso...

BACKGROUND In surface antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBsAg)-positive carrier for anticancer treatment of malignant lymphoma, it is well recognized that reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) occasionally occurs. However, there have been only a few studies of HBV reactivation in serum HBsAg-negative and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAb)-positive occult HBV carriers. We looked at both retrospectiv...

Infection with hepatitis B virus can lead to serious long-term complications including chronic hepatitis B virus infection leading to hepatocellular carcinoma, liver failure, and death. We report a case of prolonged hepatitis B antigenemia after routine vaccination with Engerix B. A positive hepatitis B surface antigen was found when the individual donated blood 18 days after vaccination. This ...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Non-detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope protein (hepatitis B surface antigen, HBsAg) in a chronically HBV infected individual has been described as occult infection. One possible reason for this phenotype is alteration in large (L-HBsAg) to small (S-HBsAg) envelope protein ratio associated with reduced or non secretion of HBsAg. This results in quantitative lev...