Occult hepatitis B virus infection among Egyptian blood donors

Abstract

AIM:To identify blood donors with occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) to promote safe blood donation. METHODS:Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 3167 blood donors negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis C antibody (HCV Ab) and human immunodeficiency virus Ab. They were subjected to the detection of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) and screening for anti-HBV core antibodies (total) by two different techniques; [Monoliza antibodies to hepatitis B core (Anti-HBc) Plus-Bio-Rad] and (ARC-HBc total-ABBOT). Positive samples were subjected to quantitative detection of antibodies to hepatitis B surface (anti-HBs) (ETI-AB-AUK-3, Dia Sorin-Italy). Serum anti-HBs titers > 10 IU/L was considered positive. Quantitative HBV DNA by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (QIAGEN-Germany) with 3.8 IU/mL detection limit was estimated for blood units with negative serum anti-HBs and also for 32 whose anti-HBs serum titers were > 1000 IU/L. Also, 265 recipients were included, 34 of whom were followed up for 3-6 mo. Recipients were investigated for ALT and AST, HBV serological markers: HBsAg (ETI-MAK-4, Dia Sorin-Italy), anti-HBc, quantitative detection of anti-HBs and HBV-DNA. RESULTS: 525/3167 (16.6%) of blood units were positive for total anti-HBc, 64% of those were antiHBs positive. Confirmation by ARCHITECT anti-HBc assay were carried out for 498/525 anti-HBc positive samples, where 451 (90.6%) confirmed positive. Reactivity for anti-HBc was considered confirmed only if two positive results were obtained for each sample, giving an overall prevalence of 451/3167 (14.2%) for total anti-HBc. HBV DNA was quantified by real time PCR in 52/303 (17.2%) of anti-HBc positive blood donors (viral load range: 5 to 3.5 x 10 5

Prevalence of serological markers and nucleic acid for blood-borne viral infections in blood donors in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

“…In Egypt, occult hepatitis B was found 1.6% of donors [36]. In the current study, the four HBsAg-negative donors who had viral nucleic acid with either anti-HBc plus anti-HBs, an isolated anti-HBs, or an isolated antiHBc may suggest occult HBV.…”

Low Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis B Infection Among Blood Donors in Beirut, Lebanon: Reconsider the Deferral Strategy of Anti-HBc Positive Blood Donors

“…Occult HBV infection (OBI) was defined by an international workshop held in 2008 as the "presence of HBV DNA in liver (with a viral load of < 200 IU/mL or undetectable HBV DNA in the serum) of individuals testing hepatitis B surface antigen negative by currently available assays" (6)(7)(8). The prevalence of OBI carriers was shown to be more prominent since the introduction of HBV DNA nucleic acid testing (NAT) in blood transfusion centers across all continents with yield varying from 0.1% to 4.16% (2)(3)(4)(5)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

“…Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains one of the major infectious agent threats to the human health, it is estimated that this virus infects 400 million of the world's population and is considered as one of the most common transfusion-transmitted viral infection (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Occult HBV infection (OBI) was defined by an international workshop held in 2008 as the "presence of HBV DNA in liver (with a viral load of < 200 IU/mL or undetectable HBV DNA in the serum) of individuals testing hepatitis B surface antigen negative by currently available assays" (6)(7)(8).…”

Hepatitis B virus genotype E infection among Egyptian health care workers

“…[7] More recent data published in 2012 showed a significant decrease of HBsAg (1.5%) among Egyptian HCWs in the Nile delta. [8] The anti-HBc rate (24.5%) in our HCWs is significantly higher than that reported in Egyptian blood donors negative for HBsAg (7.8-14.2%), [16][17][18][19] and general populations (15.7%). [3] We could not detect any significant difference of anti-HBc rate between health care providers and non-health care providers.…”