Indication of Anti-HBc Antibody Screening and HBV-DNA Detection in Diagnosing Latent Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Background: in spite of available, and sensitive screeningassay for detection of hepatitis b virus surface antigen(hbsag), occasional cases of post-transfusion hepatitis b virusinfection are still observed. the aim of the present studywas to assess the prevalence of positive anti hepatitis b core(anti-hbc) and presence of hby-dna in serum sample ofhealthy blood donors negative for both hbsag and anti-hcyantibody. we evaluated whether anti-hbc could be adopted asa screening assay for blood donation.material and methods: two thousands sera negative for bothhbsag and anti-hcy collected from healthy blood donorstested for presence of anti-hbc antibody. all sera positive foranti-hbc antibody were then investigated for determination ofanti-hbc and anti-hbs titers, hbeag and anti-hbe antibodyby enzyme immunoassay (eia). every sample that testednegative for hbsag but positive for anti-hbc alone or incombination with other serological markers was also examinedfor the presence of hby-dna by polymerase chain reaction(pcr).results: out of 2000 hbsag negative blood samples, 13samples (6.55%) were positive for anti-hbc. hby-dna wasdetected in 16 of 131(12.2%) anti-hbc positive specimens.the liver function test results were all in normal range exceptin 4 (25%) of 16 hby-dna positive subjects.conclusion: anti-hbc antibody should be tested routinely onblood donor volunteers, and if the sera become positive regardlessof anti-hbs titer, the blood should be discarded. furthertesting for hby -dna is appropriate to follow up theblood donor patient for hby infection.