OBJECTIVE. To serially evaluate the viral kinetics of occult hepatitis B virus infection in lymphoma patients and perform a correlation with clinical outcomes. DESIGN. Case series with 1-year follow-up. SETTING. Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS. Consecutive patients who were newly diagnosed to have lymphoma in the hospital between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008 were tested for hepatitis B...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the kinetics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral loads and HBV reactivation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients undergoing therapy with tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) inhibitors. METHODS The authors investigated the virological, serological and biochemical evidence of HBV reactivation in 88 RA patients receiving anti-TNFα therapy. Levels of HBV surface (HBs) antig...

BACKGROUND Measures of the effectiveness of risk minimization activities are necessary for the appropriate use of drugs, and clinical databases are a low-cost method of quickly producing such results. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the secondary application of clinical databases in verifying the impact of risk minimization activities; specifically, whether such databases could...

BACKGROUND Data on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection among children in Africa are limited. We evaluated the seroprevalence of both viruses among healthy, HIV-uninfected children and HIV-infected children in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania. METHODS HBV and HCV markers were assessed using serum and plasma samples f...

BACKGROUND Liver enzyme elevation is an important and common adverse effect among patients with immune-mediated diseases who receive tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (anti-TNF), and has various causes. Hence, we evaluated the relative risks of developing liver enzyme elevation in anti-TNF users with differing hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection status. METHODS At a hospital in central Taiwan, ...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are major health problem in the world. Hairdressers (barbers) are in continuous contact with scissors and blades, and are considered a high-risk group for these infections. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of hepatitis B and C infections in barbers in Tehran and to evaluate their attitudes ...

BACKGROUND Female prisoners are at risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs). There has been no previous study regarding the epidemiological status of STIs among female prisoners in Isfahan, central Iran. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of the aforementioned infections among women incarcerated in the central prison, Isfahan, t...

BACKGROUND Screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is recommended worldwide for patients receiving systemic chemotherapy in accordance with clinical guidelines, but compliance varies by country and facility. Alert systems may be useful for promoting screening, but it is unclear how effective such systems are. In this study, we investigated HBV screening procedures and their incorporatio...