الفهرس 
Introduction and aim of the work
Hepatitis B VirusOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Occult hepatitis B virus (oHBV) infection is defined as the detection ofHBV DNA (in blood and/or liver tissue) without detectable HBsAg with or without anti-HBc or anti-HBs.
The clinical importance of oHBV infection was noticed in the following clinical contexts: transmission of HBV infection after blood transfusion and organ transplantation, reactivation of chronic hepatitis B with exposure to immunosuppression and its implication in chronic liver diseases (CLD) especially with cryptogenic chronic liver diseases, HCVVrelated chronic liver diseases, hepatocellular carcinoma and in haemodialysis patients.
This study will be designed to:
1. Investigate the prevalence of occult HBV infection in hemodialysis patients.
2. Compare the prevalence of occult HBV infection among hepatitis C (HCV)-positive and (HCV)-negative hemodialysis patients.
3. Determine whether specific demographic, biochemical, and/or serological feature could serve to identify these individual for additional testing and follow up.
A total of 50 patients with ESRF on regular hemodialysis were enrolled into the present prospective hospital based study. They were selected from the attendants of the Dialysis Unit of Internal Medicine Department in El-Minia University Hospital along the period from April, 2008 to May, 2009.
These patients were adults, 18 years of age or older, of them 28 (56%) were men and 22 (44%) were women. All were negative for HBsAg. They were selected to comprise 25 patients who were positive for anti-HCY and 25 who were not.
Exclusion criteria:
1- Patients who were positive for HBsAg.
2- Patients who had a history of vaccination against HBY infection. 3- Previous treatment with antiviral or immunosuppressive drugs. 4- Patients with underlying autoimmune disorder.
Characteristics of the study groups:
Group I:
It included 25 consecutive hemodialysis patients with positive anti-HCY. They were 14 male (28%) and 11 female (22%). Their ages ranged from 18 -69 years.
Group II:
It included 25 patients with negative anti-HCY. They were 14 male (28%) and 11 female (22%), with ages ranged from 18 - 65 years. They were chosen to be age and sex matched to patients of group I.