Investigation of hepatitis B virus seroprevalence in hepatitis C infected patients

Abstract

Objective: Chronic liver disease caused by hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) infections is one of the major public health issues in the world. The aim of the study is to determine the HBV serology of HCV infected patients who is monitored in infectious diseases clinic retrospectively and immunize the seronegative individuals. Methods: Among patients HCV infected attendees of outpatient clinic of Infectious Diseases, patients with determined serologies of HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti- HBc IgG were included in the study between January 2005 and June 2010. Demographic data of the patients, intravenous use of drug and alcohol consumption habits, accompanying comorbidities such as chronic renal failure, organ transplantation, dialysis and malignancies, tooth extraction and abortion stories in female patients were obtained from the medical records. Hepatit B and serologic profiles were determined with chemiluminescence method by an automated macro- ELISA device. Results: A total of 92 patients infected with HCV were enrolled in the study including 34 (37%) male patients and 58 (63%) female patient. The mean age of female patient was 54.1 ± 14.5 and male patient was 53.9 ± 14.6 years. 36 (39.1%) cases have encountered with HBV, while it was detected that 27 (29.3% ) had natural immunity, 5 (5.4%) had isolated anti- HBc IgG positivity and 4 (4.3%) were chronic inactive carriers. Occult hepatitis B infection could not be ruled out in patients with isolated anti- HBc IgG positivity. At least one of the risk factors such as blood transfusion, bleeding tooth extraction, operation and abortion were present in 86.9% of the patients. There was no statistical significance diffrence between the two groups in the risks of Hepatitis B infection when it was compared to patients who did or did not have a risk factor (p = 0,53). None of the patients reported history of chronic renal failure, dialysis, organ transplantation, malignancy and drug abuse. Conclusion: Vaccination of seronegative individuals for hepatitis B will prevent possible negative influence of co-infection with HBV on clinical course of hepatitis C. Thus, the necessity of serologic examination for HBV infection in HCV infected patients and vaccinating the seronegative individuals has been re-emphasized in this article.