Hepatitis B and D viruses are responsible for about 2 million deaths annually worldwide. In co-infection with hepatitis (HBV) (VHD) viruses, the prognosis is exacerbated by HDV. This study aimed at estimating seroprevalence of among blood donors Cliniques Universitaires Hôpital Jason Sendwe in Lubumbashi. Screening HBsAg was performed using rapid diagnostic tests then confirmed Liaison XL test ...

Ribozymes, RNA molecules that catalyze the cleavage of RNA substrates, provide an interesting alternative to the RNA interference (RNAi) approach to gene inactivation, especially given the fact that RNAi seems to trigger an immunological response. Unfortunately, the limited substrate specificity of ribozymes is considered to be a significant hurdle in their development as molecular tools. Here,...

An anti-hepatitis delta (HD) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a specific recombinant hepatitis delta antigen derived from a local dominant hepatitis delta virus (hepatitis D virus; HDV) strain in Taiwan has been established. The detection efficiency of this assay was comparable to that of the commercially available Abbott anti-HD radioimmunoassay (RIA) and could be useful in rout...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Previous studies have demonstrated the dominance of genotype D subtype ayw in patients with hepatitis B virus infection in Turkey. The aim of the present study is to report, for the first time, genotype A2 subtype adw2 of hepatitis B virus in a patient who is an inactive hepatitis B carrier in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS Hepatitis B virus DNA isolated from the serum samp...

This study in Italy aimed to evaluate the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a population of recent (< 6 months) immigrants. Between February 2003 and December 2004, 83 (9.3%) out of 890 immigrants tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen. All were men and 62.6% came-from Africa, 21.6% from Asia and 16.8% from Eastern Europe. About h...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The aim of the study was to assess bone metabolism and impact of disease on bone mineral density in patients with non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis B or C. METHODS 105 patients with chronic hepatitis B or C receiving antiviral agents and 60 healthy controls were included. Subgroups (n=15) were defined on the basis of age (males) or menopausal status (females). Bone mineral densi...

Mongolia is known for its high endemicity for viral hepatitis. Previous studies report that the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is 11.8% (178/1,512) among the unvaccinated population in 13 provinces and Ulaanbaatar city. The serosurvey of adults (>20 years of age) conducted during 2013 among persons in four provinces and in Ulaanbaatar showed that the overall prevalence of hepatitis B...

results liver function tests in the healthy blood donors were within the normal range. the incidence rates of senv-d and senv-h in the 184 total blood donors were 10 (5.4%) (95% confidence interval (ci): 2.1% - 9.0%) and 32 (17.4%) cases (95% ci: 12.0% - 23.0%), respectively. senv-h/d co-infection occurred in 2 (1.1%) patients. the sera of 8/184 (4.3%) were positive for anti-hbc antibody but ne...