Occult hepatitis B virus infection: A major concern in HIV-infected patients

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- infected patients are at risk of acquiring viral hepatitis, due to common routes of transmission. As the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) reduced the frequency of opportunistic infections and improved survival, viral hepatitis emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected cases. Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is characterized by presence of HBV infection without detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). There are conflicting reports on the impact of occult HBV infection on the natural history of HIV disease. In this review, we described the findings of studies on HIV and hepatitis B co-infection with focus on the prevalence of occult HBV infection. The results of this review demonstrated the importance of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of occult HBV infection in HIV-positive patients.

• Implication for Health policy/practice/research/medical education:
  This article makes the importance of occult hepatitis B infection in patients with HIV as a prominent case. Infectious diseases specialists, hematolo¬gists and virologists should be aware about this important complication when they manage a patients with HIV infection. Physicians should check overt and occult HBV in all patients with Hepatitis B infection.
• Please cite this paper as:
  Ramezani A, Banifazl M, Mohraz M, Rasoolinejad M, Aghakhani A. Occult hepatitis B virus infection: A major concern in HIV-infected patients. Hepat Mon. 2011;11(1):7-10.

2011 Kowsar M.P.Co. All rights reserved.