PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alshayea, Areej I.
AU  - Eid, Gamal E.
AU  - El-Hazmi, Malak M.
AU  - Alhetheel, Abdulkarim F.
TI  - Prevalence and characterization of occult hepatitis B infection among blood donors in central Saudi Arabia
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2016.10.14705
DP  - 2016 Oct 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 1114--1119
VI  - 37
IP  - 10
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/37/10/1114.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/37/10/1114.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2016 Oct 01; 37
AB  - Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of occult hepatitis B viral infections (OBIs) among blood donors considering the clinical and epidemiological importance of identifying OBIs.Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between January 2011 and January 2012. Blood donors (n=8501) were screened for Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibodies (HBcAb). All HBsAg-negative and HBcAb-positive samples were tested further for hepatitis B surface antibodies (HBsAb), hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA, and HBV genotyping.Results: Of the 8501 serum samples tested, 56 (0.7%) were positive and 8445 (99.3%) were negative for HBsAg. Among the HBsAg-negative samples, 198 (2.3%) were positive for HBcAb and these patients were suspected to have OBIs. Among the HBcAb-positive samples, 119 (60.1%) were positive while 79 (39.9%) were negative for HBsAb. Analysis of HBV-DNA for the suspected OBIs showed that 17 out of 198 samples (8.6%) yielded positive results, and all of them were HBsAb-negative. The viral load was low (<20-186 IU/mL) in all OBIs. Hepatitis B virus genotyping showed that 15 out of 17 samples (88.2%) were genotype D, and the other 2 samples (11.8%) were genotype E.Conclusion: The prevalence of OBIs among blood donors in Riyadh was 0.2%. Therefore, it is recommended that HBV molecular testing should be incorporated with serological assays for screening of blood donors.