Prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women

Background and aim Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a global health problem. It affects a large portion of the population. Till now, the only effective measure to prevent the spread of infection and its possible complications is the vaccination program against HBV. Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is still underestimated and not fully studied, especially in pregnant women. This work was designed to assess the prevalence of OBI in pregnant women. Patients and methods Over a year, we enrolled 100 pregnant women. All of those women came for antenatal care and were negative for hepatitis B surface antigen. All those women were subjected to a thorough history and clinical evaluation. Those women were tested for hepatitis B core antibody, and those women who were positive were tested for HBV DNA by PCR. Results Based on the current study, only 5% of the women had positive hepatitis B core antibody and only 2% of the enrolled women had positive HBV DNA. So, the frequency of OBI in this study was 2%. Conclusion Screening of pregnant women for HBV infection should be done for all women. Women with high risk for HBV but who have negative hepatitis B surface antigen should be screened for OBI.