Prevalence of occult hepatitis C in egyptian patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

This study aim is to assess the prevalence of occult HCV infection among Egyptian patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with elevated AST and ALT, and to correlate presence of occult HCV with severity of liver disease. Patients and Methods: After informed consent 27 patients with elevateed liver enzymes diagnosed as NAFLD were examined for demographic, clinical, laboratory data and Ultrasonography. Liver biopsy was done and tested for HCV RNA in tissue. Genotyping using RFLP analysis of PCR products in the 5'NCR was done for positive cases. Results: HCV RNA in tissue was positive in 11/27 patients (40.7%); genotype was 4a in all positive cases. AST and ALT values showed significantly lower values in occult HCV than the non HCV NAFLD group. Liver biopsy of studied patients showed no significant difference as regard inflammation and fibrosis according to METAVIR score. Conclusions: Occult HCV is highly prevalent among Egyptian NAFLD patients. It seems to induce a mild liver disease. Patients with elevated ALT and negative HCV RNA in sera might be investigated for tissue HCV RNA. Follow up is recommended for the occult HCV patients to monitor progression to overt disease.

Detection of occult hepatitis C virus among healthy spouses of patients with HCV infection

“…The relationship between occult HCV infection and serum ALT levels is controversial. While some authors reported normal liver functions in patients with occult HCV infection [De Marco et al, 2009], others reported high serum ALT levels in such patients Saad et al, 2011]. Confirming this controversy, the present study revealed an insignificant difference in the prevalence of occult HCV infection between patients with normal or high liver function test results.…”

Secondary Occult Hepatitis C Virus Infection (HCV) in Chronic HCV Patients after Treatment with Sofosbuvir and Daclatasvir

“…This, together with the fact that male sex is predominant in OCI than female sex which is accordant with previous studies by L´opez-Alcorocho and Castillo et al, (L´opez-Alcorocho et al, 2007;Castillo et al, 2007). (Youssef et al, 2012), also in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (Saad et al, 2011), and hemodialysis patients (Abdelrahim et al, 2016).…”

“…Other previous studies revealed an insignificant difference in the prevalence of occult HCV infection between patients with normal or high liver enzymes results (Saad et al, 2011). Also, we found that there were statistical significant differences between the two groups regarding direct bilirubin before treatment and in the percent of change as we found that the percent of change decreased significantly in positive group which can be explained by increase rates of direct bilirubin significantly before treatment in positive group, while in total bilirubin we found that there were statistical significant differences between the two groups only in the percent of change, also we found that there was no statistical significant difference between the two groups regarding indirect bilirubin.…”

Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis C Virus in Egyptian Patients with Chronic Lymphoproliferative Disorders

“…Recently, it has been documented in haemodialysis patients, in chronic HCV patients after SVR, in general populations, and in chronic liver disease patients of unknown etiology [24–28]; nonetheless, it have never been studied in LPD patients. In Egypt, a recent study have shown high incidence of OCI in nonalcoholic liver disease (40.7%) [29]. To the best of our knowledge, this study is considered the first to investigate the detection of OCI in LPD patients.…”

“…Saad et al [29] reported that occult HCV infection seems to induce a mild liver disease, and Followup is recommended for the occult HCV patients to monitor progression to overt disease. Accordingly, it should be taken into consideration that NHL patients with elevated liver function tests with unknown etiology should be tested for OCI and should be carefully followed up.…”