Occult hepatitis B virus infection in Lebanese patients with chronic hepatitis C liver disease

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2008-03, Vol.27 (3), p.217-221
• Main Authors: Ramia, S., Sharara, A. I., El-Zaatari, M., Ramlawi, F., Mahfoud, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antibodies; Antigens; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Blood & organ donations; Chi-square test; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA, Viral - blood; Female; Genomes; Health sciences; Hepatitis; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B - epidemiology; Hepatitis B Antibodies - blood; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens - blood; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B virus - genetics; Hepatitis B virus - isolation & purification; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis C, Chronic - complications; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Laboratories; Lebanon - epidemiology; Liver; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Male; Medical Microbiology; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Polymerase chain reaction; Prevalence; Serology; Viral diseases; Viral hepatitis; Viral Load; Viruses
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-007-0429-7

Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, characterised by the presence of HBV infection with undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), was investigated in 98 Lebanese patients with chronic hepatitis C liver disease and 85 control subjects recruited from eight institutions in different parts of the country. The prevalence of occult HBV infection ranged from 11.9% to 44.4% in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients and it increased with increasing severity of the liver disease. The overall rate of HBV DNA in our 98 HCV-infected patients was 16.3%. On the other hand, the rate of HBV DNA was 41.0% in anti-HBc alone positive patients compared to only 7.1% in healthy controls who were also anti-HBc alone positive ( p