[Occult HBV infection in Rafsanjanese blood donors]

ABSTRACT

Occult hepatitis B infection is a form of hepatitis in which despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in peripheral blood of patients. This clinical form of B hepatitis creates some problems for the Iranian blood transfusion services. Therefore, the aim of this study was the evaluation of status of occult hepatitis B infection in the Rafsanjanese blood donors. In this cross-sectional study, total of 3700 blood donor samples were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs using ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA using PCR. Results of current study indicated that 352 [9.5%] of 3700 blood samples were HBsAg- and anti-HBc+. HBV-DNA was detected in 57 [16.1% of HBsAg- and anti-HBc+ and 1.54% of total samples] samples. Results of this study are in agreement with our previous studies in the prevalence of OBI. Therefore, it seems that occult hepatitis B infection rate is high in the Iranian blood donors and probably is one of the main causes of post-transfusion hepatitis