There are now seven nucleoside/tide analogues, along with interferon-α, that are approved by the FDA for the management of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, a disease affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. These medications, however, are limited in usefulness, and significant side effects and the emergence of viral escape mutants make the development of novel and updated t...

OBJECTIVE According to EU regulations (EU directive 2006/17/EC), blood specimens for virologic testing in the context of post-mortal tissue donation must be taken not later than 24 h post mortem. METHODS To verify validity of NAT in blood specimens collected later, viral nucleic acid concentrations were monitored in blood samples of deceased persons infected with HIV (n = 7), HBV (n = 5), and...

BACKGROUND Screening blood donors for the presence of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) has been the backbone of blood safety. However, occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) in donors can be missed when only HBsAg screening is used. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is capable of detecting OBI among donors. The aim of our study was to analyse the sensitivity of NAT for detecting OBI. MATERIAL A...

BACKGROUND Blood and plasma donor screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), and antibodies to surface (anti-HBs) and core (anti-HBc) antigens allows identification of individuals who acquired HBV despite previous HBV vaccination. METHODS Of 14 HBV acute infection donor panels (HBV-DNA-positive/anti-HBc-negative), 6 donors were previously vaccinated (anti-HBs+). W...

t o b The so-called inactive carriers are regularly revisited in hepatologist’s literature, but many pending issues are yet unsolved. Magalhães et al looked back in to a cohort of patients carefully followed with serial assessment of some blood parameters, trying to indirectly validate their own strategy of monitoring. Patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) present several patterns of s...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels are crucial for managing chronic hepatitis B (CHB). It was unclear whether Daan real-time polymerase chain reaction test (Daan test) or COBAS TaqMan HBV DNA Test (Cobas TaqMan) was superior in measuring different HBV DNA levels in clinical specimens. METHODS We enrolled 67 treatment-naïve, HBV surface antigen-positive CHB patients (high baseline v...

BACKGROUND Nucleoside/nucleotide analogue (NA) therapy could be life-saving in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with spontaneous severe acute exacerbation (SAE). We aimed to investigate the ultra-short virological responses to NA. METHODS We conducted a randomized controlled trial in which CHB patients with spontaneous SAE were randomized to receive lamivudine (LVD) or entecavir (ETV) between July 2...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection affects millions of people worldwide and about a half million people die every year. India represents the second largest pool of chronic HBV infection worldwide with an estimated 40 million infected people. The prevalence of chronic HBV infection in pregnant women is shown to be 0.82 per cent with the risk of mother-to-child vertical transmission. Hepat...

Co-infection with hepatitis C (HCV) and B (HBV) viruses is common in clinical practice. We report a case of fulminant hepatic failure as a consequence of reactivation of HBV in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after HCV treatment. This was a 53-year-old man diagnosed in 1998 with HIV infection following detection of pulmonary tuberculosis, with a good current response to antire...

Although current therapies can be successful at suppressing hepatitis B viral load, long-term viral cure is not within reach. Subsequent strategies combining pegylated interferon alfa with nucleoside/nucleotide analogues have not resulted in any major paradigm shift. An improved understanding of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) lifec ycle and virus-induced immune dysregulation has, however, revealed...