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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2014; 20(37): 13530-13537
Published online Oct 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i37.13530
Published online Oct 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i37.13530
Occult hepatitis B virus infection among Mexican human immunodeficiency virus-1-infected patients
Ma Teresa Alvarez-Muñoz, Angelica Maldonado-Rodriguez, Othon Rojas-Montes, Guillermo Vazquez-Rosales, Alejandro Gomez, Javier Torres, Rosalia Lira, Unidad de Investigacion Medica en Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitarias, Hospital de Pediatria, Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico
Rocio Torres-Ibarra, Clinica de Hepatitis, Hospital de Infectologia Centro Médico Nacional La Raza, IMSS, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico
Fernanda Gutierrez-Escolano, Hospital General Regional No. 72, IMSS, 54000 Tlanepantla, Mexico
Onofre Muñoz, Hospital Infantil de Mexico “Federico Gomez”, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico
Author contributions: Alvarez-Muñoz MT and Maldonado-Rodriguez A contributed equally to this work; Alvarez-Muñoz MT and Lira R designed the study and wrote the manuscript; Torres-Ibarra R, Gutierrez-Escolano F and Vazquez-Rosales G provided the patients and the clinical data and also analyzed the data; Maldonado-Rodriguez A and Rojas-Montes O performed all the experiments; Gomez A performed the statistical analyses and participated in the critical review; Muñoz O and Torres J analyzed the data and were also involved in editing the manuscript.
Supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Mexico CONACYT 2008-C01-86717, (to Alvarez-Muñoz MT and Lira R)
Correspondence to: Rosalia Lira, PhD, Unidad de Investigacion Medica en Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitarias, Hospital de Pediatria, Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Cuauhtemoc 330 Col. Doctores, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico. rolica36@yahoo.com
Telephone: +52-55-56276940 Fax: +52-55-56276949
Received: February 28, 2014
Revised: April 30, 2014
Accepted: May 25, 2014
Published online: October 7, 2014
Revised: April 30, 2014
Accepted: May 25, 2014
Published online: October 7, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: In this study we assessed the frequency of occult hepatitis B infection (OHBI) in a group of 49 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1)+/ hepatitis B surface antigen negative (HBsAg)- Mexican patients using a highly sensitive in-house core-nested PCR and real-time PCR assays for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA detection. In this study we showed that the frequency of OHBI is high among HIV+/HBsAg- patients and suggests the need for testing HBV DNA in bigger populations utilizing more sentitive assays. Then, we propose to utilize the core-nested PCR assay in the initial screening for OHBI. Prospective studies would be needed to assess the clinical value of this diagnostic approach.