الفهرس 
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Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most common disease transmitted through blood transfusion. Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) is a form of the disease which does not present with Hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAg) in the serum of patients; but, HBV-DNA is detectable in the serum and hepatocytes of patients. OBI is an important risk factor to induce post transfusion hepatitis (PTH), liver cirrhosis (LC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and reactivation of the HBV. More sensitive screening tests, such as PCR, should be employed to decrease the risk of PTH.
This study aimed to detect OBI in frequently blood and blood product transfused pediatric patients. This study was carried out in the period from May 2013 to March 2014 and included two groups: Group 1 that included 45 patients with 24 (53%) males and 21 (47%) females. They were receiving repeated blood transfusion (thalassemia, chronic hemolytic anemia…ect) with an age range of 6 ms to 18 years. They were selected randomly from Minia Blood Bank, and Group 2 that included 12 known HBV infected patients of whom 7 (58%) were males and 5 (42%) were females from Minia Fever Hospital (dialysis unit) who were age and sex matched children as a control group.
As regard the results of the current study, we found that HBV-DNA; detected by nested PCR; was present in 27 (60%) of the 45 patients of the studied group who were negative for HBsAg. HBcAb was detected in 13 patients from the 27 (48%) HBV-DNA positive patients who were considered as seropositive OBI subjects and 14 patients (52%) were negative and were considered as seronegative OBI subjects.
No significant differences were found between cases and controls regarding age, gender, positive family history of HBV infection, positive routine Hepatitis-B vaccine, Presence of splenomegaly, HCVAb prevalence, blood urea and HB level. On the other hand, significant differences were found regarding positive family history of frequent transfusion, presence of hepatomegaly, PCR test, HBcAb, serum ferritin, AST, ALT, and serum creatinine levels.
No significant difference between HBcAb positive and negative OBI groups regarding age, gender, frequency of blood transfusion, presence of hepatomegaly, presence of splenomegaly, PCR test, serum ferritin, AST, ALT, blood urea, serum creatinine, and HB levels. On the other hand, a significant difference was found in HBsAg, and HCVAb.