Tarbiat Modares University Pathobiology Research 2538-3000 11 0 2008 06 01 Occult HBV infection in Rafsanjanese blood donors عفونت نهفته هپاتیت B در اهداکنندگان خون شهرستان رفسنجان 1 7 19183 EN Mohammad Kazemi Arababadi Instructor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Ali Akbar Pourfathollah Professor, Department of Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Abdollah Jafarzadeh Associated Professor, Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Gholamhossein Hassanshahi Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Mohammad Reza Afrooz B.Sc., Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, Rafsanjan Center, Rafsanjan, Iran Mahmood Hadadian B.Sc., Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, Rafsanjan Center, Rafsanjan, Iran Journal Article Objective: Occult hepatitis B infection is a form of hepatitis in which despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in peripheral blood of patients. This clinical form of B hepatitis creates some problems for the Iranian blood transfusion services. Therefore, the aim of this study was the evaluation of status of occult hepatitis B infection in the Rafsanjanese blood donors. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, total of 3700 blood donor samples were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs using ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA using PCR. Results: Results of current study indicated that 352 (9.5%) of 3700 blood samples were HBsAg– and anti-HBc+. HBV-DNA was detected in 57 (16.1% of HBsAg– and anti-HBc+ and 1.54% of total samples) samples. Conclusion: Results of this study are in agreement with our previous studies in the prevalence of OBI. Therefore, it seems that occult hepatitis B infection rate is high in the Iranian blood donors and probably is one of the main causes of post-transfusion hepatitis. https://mjms.modares.ac.ir/article_19183_d629eddc95ad3b072b33e5363def437f.pdf