title: Evaluation of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in Patients with Seronegative HbsAg.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is estimated that about 370 million people are chronic carriers of HBV worldwide. Apparently 3% of Iranian populations are chronic carriers of this virus. We aimed to evaluate the viral DNA in biological fluids of chronic hepatitis patients compared to a control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current case-control study was designed to evaluate the viral DNA in biological fluids of 70 chronic hepatitis patients compared to a control group using ELISA, PCR and Real Time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All individuals (100%) in case group were HBsAg positive while in control group only 2 individuals (2.8%) were HBsAg positive. Three individuals, in control group were positive using PCR and Real Time PCR indicating that about 7% of those in control group were chronic carriers of HBV. The interesting point was the copy of viral DNA; (5.49 ×10(4), 2.162×10(3) and 7.26×10(6)) for 3 chronic carriers using sera while it was about (5.71×10(3), 1.45×10(2) and 2.56×10(5)) using ear cerumen confirming the necessity of investigating for the carriers of HBV in different biological fluid and by different methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be concluded chronic carriers of hepatitis B are much more than what is diagnosed by routine diagnostic tests. On the other hand ELISA alone can not be relied on as a complete test for screening of chronic carriers in hepatitis B. PCR and Real Time PCR are more reliable tests for this purpose.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: E Gholami
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Parizad
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.forename: E Gholami
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Parizad
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sadeghifard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghafourian
keywords: Carrier; Ear cerumen; HBsAg; Hepatitis B; Serum