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Identification of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and viral antigens in healthcare workers who presented low to moderate levels of anti-HBs after HBV vaccination

2015; European HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases Academy; Volume: 5; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.11599/germs.2015.1081

2248-2997

Zohreh Borzooy, Seyed Mohammad Jazayeri, Abbas Mirshafiey, Azam Khamseh, Masoud Karkhaneh Mahmoudie, Pedram Azimzadeh, Babak Geravand, Mohammad Ali Boroumand, Mina Afshar, Vahdat Poortahmasebi, Mostafa Hosseini, Adrian Streinu‐Cercel,

Hepatitis B Virus Studies

Background Worldwide, healthcare workers (HCWs) show different levels of response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine.One of the factors associated with vaccine unresponsiveness may be the existence of current or past HBV infection.Regardless of the presence of HBsAg (overt infection), occult HBV infection (OBI, defined as presence of HBV DNA in the absence of HBsAg) might also account for some non-or hypo-response cases.Methods Sera from 120 HBsAg-negative HCWs with low and moderate levels of anti-HBs, <10 IU/mL (group I) and 10 to <100 IU/mL).No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of risk factors or serological data.No mutations were found in surface proteins of OBI cases.Conclusion OBI in these subjects might be due to other factors rather than presence of "a" determinant mutations.Healthcare workers with inadequate to moderate levels of anti-HBs (<100 IU/mL) following vaccination, regardless of their serological profile for HBV, should be tested for the presence of HBV DNA by sensitive molecular tests.Anti-HBc is not a reliable marker for suspicion of OBI, especially in high-risk group individuals.