Author/Authors :
Ramezani, Amitis Department of Clinical Research - Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran , Banifazl, Mohammad Iranian Society for Support of Patients with Infectious Diseases, Tehran , Mohraz, Minoo Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Tehran , Rasoolinejad, Mehrnaz Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Tehran , Aghakhani, Arezoo Department of Clinical Research - Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran
Abstract :
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- infected patients are at risk of acquiring viral hepatitis, due to
common routes of transmission. As the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
reduced the frequency of opportunistic infections and improved survival, viral hepatitis emerged as
an important cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected cases. Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection is characterized by presence of HBV infection without detectable hepatitis B surface antigen
(HBsAg). There are conflicting reports on the impact of occult HBV infection on the natural history
of HIV disease. In this review, we described the findings of studies on HIV and hepatitis B co-infection
with focus on the prevalence of occult HBV infection. The results of this review demonstrated the
importance of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of occult HBV infection in HIV-positive patients.
