Clinical and biochemical reactivation of HBV infection in a thalassemic patient after bone marrow transplantation.

The case of a young man affected by homozygous beta-thalassemia is reported who had serologic findings of a prior HBV infection and who presented with clinical and biochemical acute HBV infection probably caused by HBV reactivation after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The patient's clinical history suggests that HBV can persist without serological findings of HBsAg and HBV-DNA in persons previously infected by HBV and that HBV reactivation can occur 2 years after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, as a result of immunosuppressive therapy or an HCV activation.