Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (May 2013)

Occult hepatitis B virus infection among injecting drug users in the Central-West Region of Brazil

  • Márcia Alves Dias de Matos,
  • Renata Carneiro Ferreira,
  • Fabiana Perez Rodrigues,
  • Tamíris Augusto Marinho,
  • Carmen Luci Rodrigues Lopes,
  • Antônia Carlos Magalhães Novais,
  • Ana Rita Coimbra Motta-Castro,
  • Sheila Araújo Teles,
  • Francisco José Dutra Souto,
  • Regina Maria Bringel Martins

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 108, no. 3
pp. 386 – 389

Abstract

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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.

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