UNLABELLED Previous studies have suggested that prior exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may increase the risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of previous or occult HBV infection in a cohort of hepatitis B surface antigen-negative patients with histologically advanced chronic he...

The article “efficacy of hepatitis B vaccine in those who lost hepatitis B surface antigen during follow-up” published recently in Hepatitis Monthly (1), described the efficacy of HBV vaccine in chronic HBV patients who had been found negative for HBsAg and HBV DNA in sera. The manuscript was highlighted by an Editorial in the same issue (2). The manuscript dealt with a group of chronic HBV pat...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections pose serious problems in terms of public health and clinical intervention in a country with approximately 250 million people, who live in more than 17,000 islands. Efforts to combat HBV and HCV have been made through the implementation of universal infant hepatitis B immunization, blood screening, and other health promotion actions,...

Occult hepatitis C infection is regarded as a new entity that should be considered when diagnosing patients with a liver disease of unknown origin. Using an ultrasensitive real-time PCR assay, we demonstrated that occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection cannot be found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with cryptogenic liver diseases, HCV--associated systemic vasculitis, or con...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the prevalence of occult hepatitis B viral infections (OBIs)  among blood donors considering the clinical and epidemiological importance of identifying OBIs. METHODS A cross-sectional study conducted at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between January 2011 and January 2012. Blood donors (n=8501) were screened for Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (H...

background and objective: although hepatitis b vaccine immunogenicity is high, certain risk factors such as age, tobacco consumption, obesity and genetic background have been associated with low responsiveness to hbv vaccine. we aimed to evaluate the role of occult hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection in non-responder adults to hbv vaccine in a low endemic area for hbv. material and methods : a to...

BACKGROUND Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is characterized by negative hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and detectable hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA in the liver and/or serum, with or without hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc). Anti-HBc is the most sensitive marker of previous HBV. HBV reactivation in patients under immunosuppressive treatment is life-threatening, occurring in both overt...

conclusions cd5l might be a useful biomarker for early diagnosis of hcc in hcv cirrhotic patients. lrg and hp α2 isoforms could be potential markers for distinguishing viral hcc. our results also further support the presence of varying molecules involved in hepatocarcinogenesis in hbv when compared with hcv infection. patients and methods two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis combi...