It is still a matter of debate whether nucleoside/nucleotide analogues should be administered as prophylaxis to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative/antibodies against hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc)-positive patients with immunosuppression or whether these patients should be closely monitored and early treatment administered to those who become HBsAg-positive. We describe a reactiv...

Background and Aim: Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an incompletely understood condition. There no data about occult HBV in sero-discordant couples. We attempted to find out the prevalence of OBI this cohort formulate guidelines for vaccination. Methods: 40 couples were enrolled. DNA (quantitative), Anti HBc HBs titre (quantitative) done. was defined as positivity without detectable...

Reactivation of Hepatitis B virus causing liver damage is a concern in patients with chronic HBV infections who receive immunosuppressive or cytotoxic treatments. HBV screening should be considered for all patients going to receive immunosuppressive regimens which have the potential to induce reactivation of HBV infection. We discuss here a case of occult Hepatitis B flare after chemotherapy in...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a complex clinical entity frequently associated with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The persistence of HBV genomes in the absence of detectable surface antigenemia is termed occult HBV infection. Mutations in the surface gene rendering HBsAg undetectable by commercial assays and inhibition of HBV by suppression of viral replication and...

OBJECTIVES Occult (surface antigen-negative/DNA-positive) hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is common in areas of the world where HBV is endemic. The main objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of occult HBV infection in HIV-infected African migrants to the UK and to determine factors associated with occult coinfection. METHODS This anonymized point-prevalence study identif...

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...

CONTEXT Occult HCV infection (OCI) is defined as the presence of HCV-RNA in hepatocytes and the absence of HCV in the serum according to usual tests. We aimed to define OCI and provide information about the currently available diagnostic methods. Then we focus on specific groups that are at high risk of OCI and finally investigate immune responses to OCI and the available treatment approaches. ...

results of 45 patients, 4 (8.9% [95% ci: 4.4-15.6]) had detectable genomic hcv-rna in their pbmc specimens. hcv genotypes were determined in the pbmcs of these subjects showed that 2 (50.0%) subjects with occult hcv infection had hcv subtype 3a, and 2 (50.0%) had hcv subtype 1b. conclusions this study found that 8.9 % of the iranian candidates for liver transplant with cryptogenic cirrhosis had...