title: Occult hepatitis B virus infection among people with a family history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: The prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) among people with a family history of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is unclear. Serum samples were collected from 747 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative people with a family history of HBV infection and 579 HBsAg-negative volunteer blood donors. The presence of HBV DNA was evaluated using nested PCR with primers specific for the X, S, and C regions of HBV. The Pre-S1/Pre-S2/ S region PCR products for the OBI group and their family members with chronic HBV infection (control group) were sequenced and compared. The prevalence of OBI was 8.0% (60/747) among HBsAg-negative people with a family history of chronic HBV infection, compared to 2.6% (15/579) among the blood donors (P < 0.05). The prevalence of HBV genotype B infection was lower in the OBI group than in the control group (P = 0.031). The substitution rates in the major hydrophilic region and the "a" determinant seemed to be higher in the OBI group (0.893 vs. 0.507; 1.042 vs. 0.403, respectively), and stop codon mutations more frequent in the OBI sequences (OBI: 2/26, 7.7% vs.
  
  
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  0/31, 0%). However, none of these differences was statistically significant (P = 0.237, 0.199, 0.201, respectively). In summary, the prevalence of OBI among HBsAg-negative people with a family history of chronic HBV infection was significantly higher than that in Chinese blood donors. However, S region mutations and the escape mechanism are not likely to be the major causes of increased prevalence of OBI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Zhenhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Binghu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000635:transmission; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: hepatitis B surface antigen; hepatitis B virus; mutation; occult infection; prevalence