Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2008; 14(14): 2288-2289
Published online Apr 14, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.2288
Occult hepatitis C virus infection is more common than hepatitis B infection in maintenance hemodialysis patients
Pankaj Jain, Sandeep Nijhawan
Pankaj Jain, Sandeep Nijhawan, Department of Gastro-enterology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur 302004, India
Author contributions: Jain P and Nijhawan S equally contributed to the work; Nijhawan S designed the research; Jain P and Nijhawan S performed the research, analysed the data and wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Professor Sandeep Nijhawan, Department of Gastroenterology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur 302004, India. dr_nijhawan@yahoo.com
Telephone: +91-141-2722335
Fax: +91-141-2560994
Received: December 1, 2007
Revised: December 20, 2007
Published online: April 14, 2008
Abstract

Patients of end stage renal disease on maintenance hemodialysis were enrolled to study the prevalence of occult and dual hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and non-occult hepatitis B and C virus infection. One hundred and two patients were enrolled. Thirty patients had HCV infection, three of them were positive in anti-HCV. So, 27 (90%) of HCV-positive patients had occult HCV infection. Eleven (11%) patients had HBV infection. Five patients were positive in anti-HBc or HBV-DNA, but negative in HBsAg (occult HBV infection). Three (3%) patients had dual HBV and HCV infection. None of the patients showed changes in viral markers during the follow-up of 8 mo on average (1-12 mo).

Keywords: Occult hepatitis C; Hepatitis B; Maintenance hemodialysis