Molecular and serological detection of occult hepatitis B virus among healthy hepatitis B surface antigen-negative blood donors in Malaysia

• Main Authors: Hudu, Shuaibu Abdullahi, Mohammed Harmal, Nabil Saad, Saeed, Mohamed Ibrahim, Alshrari, Ahmed Subeh, Abdul Malik, Yasmin, Niazlin, Mohd Taib, Hassan, Roshida, Sekawi, Zamberi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Medical School, Makerere University 2016
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/53318/1/Molecular%20and%20serological%20detection%20of%20occult%20hepatitis%20B%20virus%20among%20healthy%20hepatitis%20B%20surface%20antigen-negative%20blood%20donors%20in%20Malaysia.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/53318/; https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ahs/issue/view/14827

Background: Occult hepatitis B infections are becoming a major global threat, but the available data on its prevalence in various parts of the world are often divergent.Objective: This study aimed to detect occult hepatitis B virus in hepatitis B surface antigen-negative serum using anti-HBc as a marker of previous infection. Patient and methods: A total of 1000 randomly selected hepatitis B surface antigen-negative sera from blood donors were tested for hepatitis B core antibody and hepatitis B surface antibody using an ELISA and nested polymerase chain reaction was done using primers specific to the surface gene (S-gene). Results: Of the 1000 samples 55 (5.5%) were found to be reactive, of which 87.3% (48/55) were positive for hepatitis B surface antibody, indicating immunity as a result of previous infection however, that does not exclude active infection with escaped mutant HBV. Nested PCR results showed the presence of hepatitis B viral DNA in all the 55 samples that were positive for core protein, which is in agreement with the hepatitis B surface antibody result. Conclusion: This study reveals the 5.5% prevalence of occult hepatitis B among Malaysian blood donors as well as the reliability of using hepatitis B core antibody in screening for occult hepatitis B infection in low endemic, low socioeconomic settings.