Molecular Diagnosis of Occult Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection Among Hemodialysis Patients in Khartoum State, Sudan from December 2019 to October 2020

Abstract

Zinab Abdellatef Osman Blal, Faega Abdalaziz Mohammed Dawood and Hajer Mohammed Musa Abusnina

Introduction: Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is the persistence of viral genome in the liver tissue in individuals negative for HBsAg. Hemodialysis patients are at risk of acquiring parenterally transmitted infections such as HBV, OBI, because of the large number blood transfusions they receive, invasive procedures they undergo, shared dialysis equipment, impaired host immune response, and lower response rates to HBV vaccination.

Objectives : To detect occult Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection among Hemodialysis Patients using molecular technique

Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study conducted in National public health laboratory in Khartoum state ,Sudan following strict inclusion and exclusion criteria , Antigen capture Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) , if give negative sequentially to make polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA were used in this investigation .

Results: Out of the 100 plasma sample collected , 69 were males, 31 were females, and their ages ranged between 12-86 years, (100) of patient sample were negative for HBsAg , Were 85 of patients negative for HBV DNA (85%) ,and 15 showed positive to HBV DNA (15%).

Conclusion: The study detected occult hepatitis B virus infection in hemodialysis patients. Molecular studies on HBV are of fundamental importance because they identify patients that had been considered virus-negative but who, in reality, host the virus and have the ability to transmit it to other patients and staff.

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