title: Detection of hepatitis B virus DNA among accepted blood donors in Nanjing, China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Posttransfusion hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection still occurs although its incidence has been substantially reduced since the introduction of screening of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in blood donors. This study aimed to investigate the occult HBV infection in accepted blood donors in Nanjing, China.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The lower detection limit of the nested PCR in this study was estimated to be 20 copies/ml HBV DNA. The positive rate of occult HBV infection was 0.13% (5 of 2972) in the accepted blood donors. Sequencing data showed that the amplified HBV sequences were not identical each other and to the known sequences cloned in our laboratory, excluding the false-positive caused by cross-contamination. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the HBV in all five donors was genotype B; a single base deletion was detected in the S region of HBV DNA from one donor, and no mutation was observed in the "a" determinant of HBsAg from four other donors. All five donors were negative for anti-HBs and one was positive for anti-HBc.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of occult HBV infection in the accepted blood donors in Nanjing, China is relatively high. The data would be meaningful in adapting strategy to eliminate posttransfusion HBV infection in China.
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China.
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Ping
authors: P
authors: Li
authors: Cuiping
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Jinyong
authors: J
authors: Zhou
authors: Chao
authors: C
authors: Wu
authors: Yi-Hua
authors: YH
authors: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D017385:Sequence Homology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens