Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) is a challenging clinical entity. It is defined as the presence of viral DNA in the liver or serum of subjects who test negative for the hepatitis B surface antigen. Molecular evidence of OBI consists of covalently closed circular DNA persisting in the nuclei of hepatocytes after infection. Immunocompetent individuals have a lower risk of complications t...

To evaluate the possibility of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in alcoholics carriers of "anti-HBc alone", and to verify the behavior of this serological pattern after a single dose of hepatitis B vaccine, 18 alcoholics who had this serological profile were evaluated by the polymerase chain reaction method, and 17 of them were vaccined. All were negative for HBV DNA. Nine (52.9%) of th...

An important issue arising in therapeutic studies of hepatitis C and HIV is the identification of and adjustment for covariates associated with viral eradication and resistance. Analyses of such data are complicated by the fact that eradication is an occult event that is not directly observable, resulting in unique types of censored observations that do not arise in other competing risks settin...

In this cross-sectional study, 207 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative kidney transplant recipients were evaluated based on demographic and epidemiological data and on the levels of serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus infection and liver enzymes. Patients with HBV or human immunodeficiency virus infection were excluded. Sera were analysed for the presen...

BACKGROUND In surface antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBsAg)-positive carrier for anticancer treatment of malignant lymphoma, it is well recognized that reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) occasionally occurs. However, there have been only a few studies of HBV reactivation in serum HBsAg-negative and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAb)-positive occult HBV carriers. We looked at both retrospectiv...

In this work, we have shown that hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) can coexist in the same hepatocyte using double fluorescent in situ hybridization in liver biopsy samples from patients with chronic HCV infection with occult HBV infection. Digital image analysis of hybridization signals showed that the HBV DNA levels in coinfected hepatocytes were lower than those in cells in...

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is considered the best marker for the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Mutations of the s gene involving amino acid substitutions within the a determinant could affect the sensitivity of diagnostic tests. In the present study, HBsAg mutants were detected in 3 immunocompromised patients, previously found to be HBsAg negative and anti-HBs positiv...

Occult infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is defined as the presence of the HCV genome in either liver tissue or peripheral blood monocytes, despite constant negative results from tests for HCV RNA in serum. We investigated whether patients who maintained a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after therapy (SVR12) with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents for recurrent HCV infection after...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) poses a challenge to the safety of blood donation. The prevalence of OBI is not well documented in Indonesia, although this information in such an endemic country is needed. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of occult hepatitis B in blood donors from two cities of Indonesia, and to study the genetic variation and its eff...