Abstract
Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of Occulthepatitis B virus (DNA) in cases of chronic hepatitis C in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi.Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Medical Department of Abbasi ShaheedHospital and Karachi Medical and Dental College after permission of ethical committee.Period: 15 December 2015 to 15 December 2016. Methods: Patients greater than 18 years ofage of either sex were included while those with positive HBsAg, history of alcoholism, bloodtransfusion, intravenous drug abuse and hemodialysis were excluded. After informed consentblood samples were collected and evaluated for HBV DNA by performing qualitative PCR. Datawas analyzed on SPSS version 16.0.p value of <0.05 was taken as significant. Result: Out of377 patients with chronic Hepatitis C Occult hepatitis B virus (DNA) was found in 211 (55.9%)patients. 238(63.1%) were male and 139 (36.9%) were female. Mean age of patient with occultHBV DNA was 56.07 9.19 years. Highest prevalence 99(46.7%) was found in patients withhistory of Hepatitis C for more than three year (p value 0.02). Conclusion: Occult hepatitis Bvirus is found significantly among HCV infected patients. A masked HBV infection may interferewith the clinical outcome of chronic hepatitis C and accelerate the evolution to cirrhosis.
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