High prevalence of occult hepatitis B infection in an African urban population

Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), the presence of low hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) levels in patients without detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), has significant implications for understanding the natural history of hepatitis B infection. We determined the preval...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical virology 2016-04, Vol.88 (4), p.674-680
Main Authors: Apica, Betty S., Seremba, Emmanuel, Rule, Jody, Yuan, He-Jun, Lee, William M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
DNA, Viral - blood
Epidemiology
Female
Genotype
Hepatitis
hepatitis B
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens - blood
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens - genetics
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis B virus - classification
Hepatitis B virus - genetics
Hepatitis B virus - isolation & purification
Hepatitis B, Chronic - epidemiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Mutation
occult HBV infection
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Uganda - epidemiology
Urban areas
Urban Population
Viral Load
Virology
Young Adult
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Summary:Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), the presence of low hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) levels in patients without detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), has significant implications for understanding the natural history of hepatitis B infection. We determined the prevalence of OBI in African patients using a sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and describe here the characteristics of OBI in an urban African hospital population. Routine serological testing as well as molecular studies were performed on sera from 314 patients who were part of a previous study from an urban hospital emergency room in Kampala, Uganda, detecting HBV DNA using a nested PCR with amplification of two regions of the HBV genome. HBV viral loads (VL) were determined by real‐time PCR (rtPCR) and sequencing performed to determine HBV genotype and S gene mutations. Among 314 subjects tested, 50 (16%) had chronic HBV infection, 94 (30%) had detectable HBV DNA despite testing HBsAg negative (OBI), and 170 (54%) were not infected. VLs of OBI subjects were relatively low although 19 (20%) had VL exceeding 104 IU ml−. Subjects with chronic HBV infection had a higher median VL compared to OBI patients (P 
ISSN:0146-6615
1096-9071
DOI:10.1002/jmv.24372