Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children

Introduction: Thalassemia is hereditary anemia which requires lifelong transfusion as treatment, and hepatitis viral infection is one of the risks of repeated transfusions. Hepatitis B outbreaks in health-care settings are still a serious public health concern worldwide. Blood samples negative for...

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Main Authors: Olfat Shaker, Amal Ahmed, Inas abdel Satar, Hamza El Ahl, Wafaa Shousha, Wahid Doss
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2011-07-01
Series:Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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Online Access:https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1706
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author Olfat Shaker
Amal Ahmed
Inas abdel Satar
Hamza El Ahl
Wafaa Shousha
Wahid Doss
author_facet Olfat Shaker
Amal Ahmed
Inas abdel Satar
Hamza El Ahl
Wafaa Shousha
Wahid Doss
author_sort Olfat Shaker
collection DOAJ
description Introduction: Thalassemia is hereditary anemia which requires lifelong transfusion as treatment, and hepatitis viral infection is one of the risks of repeated transfusions. Hepatitis B outbreaks in health-care settings are still a serious public health concern worldwide. Blood samples negative for HBsAg but positive for HBV-DNA, with or without the presence of HBV antibodies, are classified as "occult" HBV infection (OBI). This study investigated the prevalence of occult HBV infection in Egyptian thalassemic children. Methodology:  Eighty patients admitted to the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University Hospital, were involved in this prospective study. Strict inclusion criteria were set to nullify the effect of confounding variables and further minimize selection bias. The following laboratory investigations were performed: complete blood count (CBC); serum AST and ALT; albumin; bilirubin; HBsAg; HBeAg; HBcAb; HCV-RNA; and HBV-DNA. Results: All our patients had no clinical manifestation suggestive of hepatitis. Molecular biology studies revealed positivity for HCV and HBV at 25% and 32.5% respectively. Conclusion: The estimated risk of acquiring hepatitis B and C infection in children receiving multiple blood transfusions is surprisingly high. Moreover, occult hepatitis B infection is a considerably risk.
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language English
publishDate 2011-07-01
publisher The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
record_format Article
series Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
spelling doaj-art-9c5b60de98df4ad4990efe600c0d43162025-08-20T02:16:18ZengThe Journal of Infection in Developing CountriesJournal of Infection in Developing Countries1972-26802011-07-0160410.3855/jidc.1706Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic childrenOlfat Shaker0Amal Ahmed1Inas abdel Satar2Hamza El Ahl3Wafaa Shousha4Wahid Doss5Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, EgyptNational Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Institute, Cairo, EgyptFaculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, EgyptTabarak Children’s Hospital, Cairo, EgyptFaculty of Science, Helwan University, Helwan, EgyptNational Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Institute, Cairo, Egypt Introduction: Thalassemia is hereditary anemia which requires lifelong transfusion as treatment, and hepatitis viral infection is one of the risks of repeated transfusions. Hepatitis B outbreaks in health-care settings are still a serious public health concern worldwide. Blood samples negative for HBsAg but positive for HBV-DNA, with or without the presence of HBV antibodies, are classified as "occult" HBV infection (OBI). This study investigated the prevalence of occult HBV infection in Egyptian thalassemic children. Methodology:  Eighty patients admitted to the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University Hospital, were involved in this prospective study. Strict inclusion criteria were set to nullify the effect of confounding variables and further minimize selection bias. The following laboratory investigations were performed: complete blood count (CBC); serum AST and ALT; albumin; bilirubin; HBsAg; HBeAg; HBcAb; HCV-RNA; and HBV-DNA. Results: All our patients had no clinical manifestation suggestive of hepatitis. Molecular biology studies revealed positivity for HCV and HBV at 25% and 32.5% respectively. Conclusion: The estimated risk of acquiring hepatitis B and C infection in children receiving multiple blood transfusions is surprisingly high. Moreover, occult hepatitis B infection is a considerably risk. https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1706occult HBVhepatitis C virusDNAthalassemiapediatrics
spellingShingle Olfat Shaker
Amal Ahmed
Inas abdel Satar
Hamza El Ahl
Wafaa Shousha
Wahid Doss
Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
occult HBV
hepatitis C virus
DNA
thalassemia
pediatrics
title Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
title_full Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
title_fullStr Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
title_full_unstemmed Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
title_short Occult hepatitis B in Egyptian thalassemic children
title_sort occult hepatitis b in egyptian thalassemic children
topic occult HBV
hepatitis C virus
DNA
thalassemia
pediatrics
url https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1706
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AT inasabdelsatar occulthepatitisbinegyptianthalassemicchildren
AT hamzaelahl occulthepatitisbinegyptianthalassemicchildren
AT wafaashousha occulthepatitisbinegyptianthalassemicchildren
AT wahiddoss occulthepatitisbinegyptianthalassemicchildren