study of cerumen hepatitis B infection in chronic hepatitis B patients by real-time PCR

ABSTRACT

The hepatitis B is a viral infection that causes a big problem globally. About 2 billion people worldwide are infected and there are now about 400 million HBV-DNA carriers around the world. HBV infection is the ninth cause of death worldwide and infects about 350 million new cases each year in the world. HBV-DNA can be spotted in different body secretions and fluids, including serum, saliva, tears, urine, amniotic fluid index, and cerumen isolated. This is a case - control study on the population of 140 participants [70 patients with chronic hepatitis B as cases and 70 healthy volunteers community as a control]. The presence of HBV-DNA in their serum and ears cerumen using qualitative PCR and quantitative molecular detection Real-Time PCR [BioRad-CFX system] was determined. Copy of serum HBV were detected in 98.5% of case group and 7% of healthy population [control group]. In case group, 61 patients [87.2%] had HBV-DNA in their cerumens and 5control subjects [about 7%] were positive for HBV-DNA in their cerumens. All patients group and two subject [2.8%] of control group, were positive in HBsAg test. Average HB virus genome load in cerumen and serum of chronic HBV patients [group] were 8.98x10[6] and 3.60x10[8] copies per ml of the sample respectively. Like other body secretions, Ear cerumen is constantly produced and is subject to a pathogen such as HBV infection. The possiblity of disease transmission seems unlikely through Cerumen, however considering the average copy of HBV genome in the cerumen, no doubt, it can be claimed that there is a potential transmission risk of HBV infection