Author/Authors :
Ramezani, Amitis Clinical Research Department - Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran , Banifazl, Mohammad Iranian Society for Support Patients with Infectious Diseases, Tehran , Aghakhani, Arezoo Clinical Research Department - Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran
Abstract :
We greatly enjoyed reading the excellent review by Hollinger
and colleagues on occult hepatitis B infection in
chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients (1). As Hollinger et al.
mentioned in their review, few studies have shown the
prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in HD
patients. Due to the parenteral transmission of HBV, HD patients
are at high risk of acquiring this virus because they
need frequent blood transfusions and undergo medical
procedures that accompany bleeding (2). The prevalence of
occult HBV infection in these patients is between 0 to 58%
(3-5).
