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. 2013 May;108(3):386-389.
doi: 10.1590/S0074-02762013000300019.

Occult hepatitis B virus infection among injecting drug users in the Central-West Region of Brazil

Márcia Alves Dias de Matos  1 , Renata Carneiro Ferreira, Fabiana Perez Rodrigues, Tamíris Augusto Marinho, Carmen Luci Rodrigues Lopes, Antônia Carlos Magalhães Novais, Ana Rita Coimbra Motta-Castro, Sheila Araújo Teles, Francisco José Dutra Souto, Regina Maria Bringel Martins
Affiliations

Occult hepatitis B virus infection among injecting drug users in the Central-West Region of Brazil

Márcia Alves Dias de Matos et al. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2013 May.

Abstract

The prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was investigated in 149 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negative injecting drug users (IDUs) in the Central-West Region of Brazil. Of these individuals, 19 were positive for HBV DNA, resulting in an occult HBV infection prevalence of 12.7% (19/149); six of these 19 individuals had anti-HBV core and/or anti-HBV surface antibodies and 13 were negative for HBV markers. All IDUs with occult hepatitis B reported sexual and/or parenteral risk behaviours. All HBV DNA-positive samples were successfully genotyped. Genotype D was the most common (17/19), followed by genotype A (2/19). These findings reveal a high prevalence of occult HBV infection and the predominance of genotype D among IDUs in Brazil's Central-West Region.

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