Detection of Chronic HBV infections by Serological and Molecular Markers in Non-Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Total of 212 samples taken from the patients were screened for HBV infection. Out of the total samples 100% of the samples were positive for HbsAg and had ALT levels raised. According to our study 25% of the samples were positive for Hbcore IgM and 63.67% for Hbcore IgG. DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction in 24.5% of screened samples. Furthermore, 11.3% were negative for both IgM and IgG. A gender based difference in the rate of infection can clearly be seen in this study, as 54.2% of male population is infected with HBV as compared to females which were 45.7% respectively. (55.6%), of the patients infected with HBV had the range of age in between 15-35 years. Different risk factors such as dentist visit, blood transfusions, illegal intravenous drug use and unhygienic surgical procedures were also included in this study. Either replicative phase of HBV or recovery rates for both acute and chronic infection cannot be predicted in this study since anti-HBs or anti- Hbe were not tested for these samples. Out of the total PCR positive samples HBV DNA was detected in 40.38% of the tested HBcore IgM positive samples and 53.84% in the HBcore IgG positive samples. This study shows higher prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection in non-hospitalized patients. Clearly young patients having young age (15-35 years) are at the higher risk to be infected with hepatitis B virus.