Characteristics of occult hepatitis B virus infection in the Solomon Islands
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly endemic in the Solomon Islands. However, little is known about the status of occult HBV infection in the Solomon Islands. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of occult HBV infection and its clinical and virological features
in the community of Solomon Islands. Blood samples were collected from a total of 564 asymptomatic individuals aged over 18 years in the Western province. The samples used in the present study consisted of 200 samples from 108 males and 92 females (mean age, 37.4 years; range, 18-71 years)
that were randomly selected among the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative samples from all the participants enrolled in this study. HBV-DNA was detected by real-time PCR in 25 (12.5%) of the 200 HBsAg-negative samples. Most of the HBV-DNA-positive individuals were infected
with wild-type HBV, and only 3 strains demonstrated specific amino acid substitutions (P121X, T123N, C138S, P142S and D144E) in the α determinant region. In conclusion, occult HBV infection was documented in 12.5% of individuals that demonstrated serologic evidence of resolved HBV
infection in this study. The prevalence of occult infection was also influenced by ethnicity; it was more prevalent in Melanesians than Micronesians. In addition, occult HBV infection demonstrated a weak association with the S-variants.
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Indonesia-Japan Collaborative Research Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Disease, Airlangga University, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia 2: Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University, Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
Publication date: 01 June 2011
- The International Journal of Molecular Medicine is a monthly, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the publication of high quality studies related to the molecular mechanisms of human disease. The journal welcomes research on all aspects of molecular and clinical research, ranging from biochemistry to immunology, pathology, genetics, human genomics, microbiology, molecular pathogenesis, molecular cardiology, molecular surgery and molecular psychology.
The International Journal of Molecular Medicine aims to provide an insight for researchers within the community in regard to developing molecular tools and identifying molecular targets for the diagnosis and treatment of a diverse number of human diseases. - Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Submit a Paper
- Subscribe to this Title
- Information for Advertisers
- Terms & Conditions
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content