Rapid Communication
Copyright ©2006 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 21, 2006; 12(31): 5048-5050
Published online Aug 21, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i31.5048
Occult hepatitis B virus infection and cryptogenic chronic hepatitis in an area with intermediate prevalence of HBV infection
Mohammad Javad Kaviani, Behzad Behbahani, Mohammad Jafar Mosallaii, Fatemeh Sari-Aslani, Seyed Alireza Taghavi
Mohammad Javad Kaviani, Seyed Alireza Taghavi, Gastroenterohepatology research center, Department of Internal medicine, Namazee Hospital, Shiraz University of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Behzad Behbahani, Professor Abdolvahhab Alborzi's pediatric clinical microbiology research center, Namazee Hospital, Shiraz University of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Mohammad Jafar Mosallaii, Fatemeh Sari-Aslani, Department of pathology, Shiraz University of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Mohammad Javad Kaviani, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, Nemazee hospital, Nemazee square, Shiraz, Iran. kavianim@sums.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-71-16261089
Received: November 19, 2005
Revised: December 18, 2005
Accepted: December 22, 2005
Published online: August 21, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To assess the possible role of occult HBV infection in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis in Iranian patients.

METHODS: After exclusion of autoimmune, metabolic and viral etiologies, 104 consecutive adult patients with histologic and biochemical features of chronic hepatitis and negative HBsAg were enrolled in the study. Qualitative PCR with a sensitivity of 150 × 103 copies/L, using two primers for Pre-S and core regions was applied to measure presence of HBV DNA in serum of the patients.

RESULTS: All 104 patients completed the study. Qualitative HBV DNA was positive in two patients (1.9%).

CONCLUSION: Occult HBV infection has negligible role in the pathogenesis of cryptogenic chronic hepatitis in Iranian patients.

Keywords: Hepatitis B, Cryptogenic chronic hepatitis, PCR