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Occult hepatitis B virus infection among injecting drug users in the Central-West Region of Brazil |
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| Authors: | Márcia Alves Dias de Matos Renata Carneiro Ferreira Fabiana Perez Rodrigues Tamíris Augusto Marinho Carmen Luci Rodrigues Lopes Ant?nia Carlos Magalh?es Novais Ana Rita Coimbra Motta-Castro Sheila Araújo Teles Francisco José Dutra Souto Regina Maria Bringel Martins |
| Institution: | 1.Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública.;2.Universidade Federal de Goiás, , Faculdade de Enfermagem, , Goiânia, GO, Brasil;3.Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, , Departamento de Farmácia Bioquímica, , Campo Grande, MS, Brasil;4.Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, , Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, , Cuiabá, MT, Brasil |
| Abstract: | The prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was investigated in 149 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negative injecting drug users (IDUs) in the Central-West Region of Brazil. Of these individuals, 19 were positive for HBV DNA, resulting in an occult HBV infection prevalence of 12.7% (19/149); six of these 19 individuals had anti-HBV core and/or anti-HBV surface antibodies and 13 were negative for HBV markers. All IDUs with occult hepatitis B reported sexual and/or parenteral risk behaviours. All HBV DNA-positive samples were successfully genotyped. Genotype D was the most common (17/19), followed by genotype A (2/19). These findings reveal a high prevalence of occult HBV infection and the predominance of genotype D among IDUs in Brazil''s Central-West Region. |
| Keywords: | hepatitis B virus occult infection genotypes |