International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 19, Number 3 > Pp. 197-199

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Original research articles

Occult hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-infected Lebanese patients with isolated antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen

S Ramia PhD FRCPath ^*  , J Mokhbat MD , F Ramlawi MSc ^* and M El-Zaatari MD ^* 

^* Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lebanese University; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hammoud Hospital, Saida, Lebanon

Correspondence to: Dr Sami Ramia Email: sramia{at}aub.edu.lb

The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) serological markers have been investigated in 101 Lebanese patients (69 men, 32 women; mean age 32.7 ± 1.7 years) infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Seven patients (6.9%) were HBsAg carriers compared with 54 patients (53.5%) who had no evidence of exposure to HBV infection. Twenty-four patients (23.8%) had anti-HBc alone as a serological marker compared with four patients who were positive for anti-HBs alone and 12 patients (11.9%) who were anti-HBc and anti-HBs-positive. Occult HBV infection (presence of HBV DNA in the absence of HBsAg) is found to be relatively high (28.7%) in HIV-infected Lebanese patients and the overwhelming majority (83.3%) of those who were positive for anti-HBc alone had a detectable HBV DNA in their serum.

However, none of our HIV-positive patients with occult HBV infection had abnormal alanine aminotrasferase level, which also raises the question as to whether occult HBV plays a role in the aetiology of liver disease in HIV-infected patients. Further, studies on the association between HBV DNA levels and markers of liver function in addition to data on liver biopsy would help in answering this question.

Key Words: human immunodeficiency virus • hepatitis B virus • occult hepatitis B • Lebanon

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