Occult Hepatitis B Infection among Egyptian Chronic Hepatitis C Patients and its Relation with Liver Enzymes and Hepatitis B Markers

• Published in: Life science journal Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 467 - 474
• Main Authors: El-sherif, Wafaa T, Sayed, Sohair K, Afifi, Noha A, EL-Amin, Hussein A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25-06-2012
• Subjects: Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis C virus
• ISSN: 1097-8135

Background: Hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses are the most common causes of chronic liver disease. Comfection with HBV and HCV is not uncommon among individuals in HBV endemic areas. Occult HBV (OHB) infection is characterized by detection of HBV DNA in the serum or liver tissue of patients who test negative for HBsAg. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of OHB infection among Egyptian patients with chronic HCV infection and its relation with liver function tests and HBV markers. Methods: Serum of 50 chronic HCV patients who tested negative for HBsAg and anti-HBc-IgM were analyzed for liver function tests and HBV markers using micro particle enzyme immunoassay kit (Axsym), in addition to quantitative detection of HCV RNA and HBV DNA by real time PCR. Results: HBV-DNA was detectable in serum of 10/50 patients (20%) with a mean of 374.8 IU/ml. Among OHB positive and negative groups, anti-HBc was detected in 100% and 80% (P=0.289), anti-HBs was detected in 20% and 57.5% (P=0.034) and HBeAg was detected in 60% and 0% (P=0.000), respectively. Also, the mean level of ALT and AST showed significant elevation in OHB positive group when compared to negative group, (p=0.000 for both). There was no significant correlation between the level of HBV-DNA and the levels of ALT and AST. Conclusions: OHB with low serum levels of HBV-DNA was observed in 20% of chronic HCV patients in Egypt and was associated with elevation in ALT and AST. HBeAg could be a useful maker for OHB prediction but a negative result doesn't exclude OHB infection, whereas negative anti-HBc-IgG may exclude such infection.