Akintule O A, Olusola B A, Odaibo G N, Olaleye D O
Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Arch Basic Appl Med. 2018 Feb;6(1):87-93. Epub 2018 May 4.
Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) is manifested by presence of HBV-DNA in the absence of detectable Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) with or without anti-HBV antibodies. Hence it is a potential threat in blood transfusion medicine. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of OBI as well as evaluate the effectiveness of using Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) marker alone in the diagnosis of HBV infection among HBsAg negative blood donors in Ilorin, Nigeria. A purposive sampling, including samples from 206 already donated and prescreened blood units from HBsAg negative from apparently healthy volunteer blood donors at the General Hospital Blood Transfusion Centre, Ilorin, Nigeria, were collected for further laboratory analysis for this study. Five millilitres of blood was collected and plasma sample tested for the presence of HBsAg using a commercially available ELISA kit. In addition, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used for molecular detection of HBV DNA in each of the samples. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi square at p = 0.05. Of the 206 HBsAg Micropoint® rapid kits pre-screened seronegative samples collected from the blood transfusion centre, 8 (3.9%) samples were positive for the presence of HBsAg when retested using ELISA in the laboratory. Eighteen of the 206 samples (8.7%) were HBV-DNA positive by a semi-nested PCR technique giving an OBI rate of 8.7%. Out of the 18 HBV-DNA positive samples, 17 (4.4%) were from males and only one (5.6%) was from a female donor. Analysis of the 18 HBV DNA positive samples using genotype specific primers into genotype A and Non-A showed that 15 (83.3%) were HBV genotype A, while 2 (11.1%) were genotypes other than A (Non-A), one (5.6%) sample had mixed genotypes (A & non-A). A prevalence of 8.7% OBI found in this study indicates substantial risk of post transfusion HBV infection in the study area in Nigeria. Hence, the need to include HBV DNA detection in the routine blood screening that is, using Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) technique for transfusion safety in the country.
隐匿性乙型肝炎病毒感染（OBI）表现为在检测不到乙型肝炎表面抗原（HBsAg）的情况下存在HBV-DNA，无论有无抗HBV抗体。因此，它在输血医学中是一个潜在威胁。本研究旨在确定OBI的患病率，并评估仅使用乙型肝炎表面抗原（HBsAg）标志物在尼日利亚伊洛林对HBsAg阴性献血者进行HBV感染诊断的有效性。采用目的抽样法，从尼日利亚伊洛林综合医院输血中心明显健康的志愿献血者中，收集206份已捐献并预先筛查为HBsAg阴性的血液样本，用于本研究的进一步实验室分析。采集5毫升血液，使用市售ELISA试剂盒检测血浆样本中HBsAg的存在情况。此外，采用聚合酶链反应（PCR）对每个样本进行HBV DNA的分子检测。使用描述性统计分析数据，p = 0.05时进行卡方检验。从输血中心收集的206份经Micropoint®快速试剂盒预筛查为血清阴性的样本中，在实验室使用ELISA重新检测时，有8份（3.9%）样本HBsAg呈阳性。206份样本中有18份（8.7%）通过半巢式PCR技术检测为HBV-DNA阳性，OBI率为8.7%。在18份HBV-DNA阳性样本中，17份（4.4%）来自男性，只有1份（5.6%）来自女性献血者。使用基因型特异性引物将18份HBV DNA阳性样本分析为A基因型和非A基因型，结果显示15份（83.3%）为HBV A基因型，2份（11.1%）为非A基因型，1份（5.6%）样本为混合基因型（A和非A）。本研究中发现的8.7%的OBI患病率表明，尼日利亚该研究地区存在输血后HBV感染的重大风险。因此，有必要在常规血液筛查中纳入HBV DNA检测，即在该国使用核酸检测（NAT）技术确保输血安全。
