OBJECTIVE To characterize a chronic hepatitis B cohort based on initial and follow-up clinical evaluations. METHODS A retrospective and descriptive analysis of clinical and laboratory data from chronic HBsAg adult carriers, without HIV, unexposed to treatment, with at least two outpatient visits, between February 2006 and November 2012. Fisher´s exact test, χ², Wilcoxon, Spearman, multiple co...

Despite the introduction of new nucleos(t)ide analogues in recent years, peginterferon is still recommended as a potential first-line treatment option by current practice guidelines for the management of chronic hepatitis B. Peginterferon offers the advantage of higher sustained off-treatment response rates compared to nucleos(t)ide analogues because of its immunomodulatory effects. Sustained t...

Introduction: Hepatitis B and C are major health problems in many countries, especially developing areas. The frequency of hepatitis B is less than 0.8%, and chronic hepatitis C is less than 0.5% in the general population of Yazd in the center of Iran. Large vehicle drivers have some risk factors for acquiring hepatitis B and C infection. This is important because viral hepatitis complications,...

BACKGROUND Interferon (IFN) combined with ribavirin (RBV) is an effective therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients. Those who are coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), however, might suffer from HBV reactivation. The aim of this study was to assess HBV reactivation in HCV-coinfected inactive HBV carriers following IFN/RBV. METHODS A total of 32 HBV carriers with <or=4 log(10) ...

Molecular hybridisation using cloned hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA) was applied to liver and serum samples from 46 children (39 with liver diseases and seven controls) for detection of HBV DNA sequences, free and integrated into the liver cell genome. HBV DNA integration was observed in 10 children. The young age of some of these cases indicates that such integration can occur early in liver d...

Ghana is not an exception from developing countries suffering from hepatitis B infection. Research has shown that various communities have different prevalent rate as result of life style and socioeconomic levels. This study investigated the prevalence of the infection, possible risk factors, determined liver enzymes (AST and ALT) of infected respondents and serologically characterized the infe...

introduction and aims: in order to prevent liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in later life, it is essential to prevent hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection in infants. despite the availability of an effective vaccine, hepatitis b still continues to be a significant health problem. the aim of this study is to reveal the efficacy of passive and active immunoprophylaxis for preventing peri...

conclusions hbv vaccination in infancy is effective at preventing chronic hbv infection but is less effective at preventing occult hbv infection. similar studies examining the efficacy of adult hbv vaccination in preventing occult hbv have not been performed. this case highlights the importance of carefully determining the hbv status of high-risk individuals, as vaccination history and the pres...

abstract background: naturally occurred hepatitis b virus (hbv) with surface mutations in a variety of chronic hepatitis b (chb) patients who have received no vaccine or hbig bearing substitutions in surface protein, have been reported. objectives: current knowledge concerning the prevalence of these naturally occurring surface antigen mutations among iranian carriers is limited. patients and m...