Screening for retroviruses and hepatitis viruses using dried blood spots reveals a high prevalence of occult hepatitis B in Ghana
| Autor: | Vicente Soriano, Susana Pérez-Benavente, Amalia Diez, Julius N. Fobil, José M. Bautista, Roger Kwawu, Carmen de Mendoza |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C virus Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 medicine.disease_cause Ghana occult hepatitis B 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine medicine Pharmacology (medical) 030212 general & internal medicine Dried blood human T-cell leukaemia virus type 1 Original Research Hepatitis virus Hepatitis B virus business.industry Antiviral therapy virus diseases Hepatitis B medicine.disease Occult Virology Infectious Diseases dried blood spots HIV-1 030211 gastroenterology & hepatology business hepatitis B virus |
| Zdroj: | Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease, Vol 6 (2019) |
| ISSN: | 2049-937X 2049-9361 |
| Popis: | Background:Recent advances in antiviral therapy show potential for a cure and/or control of most human infections caused by hepatitis viruses and retroviruses. However, medical success is largely dependent on the identification of the large number of people unaware of these infections, especially in developing countries. Dried blood spots (DBS) have been demonstrated to be a good tool for collecting, storing and transporting clinical specimens from rural areas and limited-resource settings to laboratory facilities, where viral infections can be more reliably diagnosed.Methods:The seroprevalence and virological characterization of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), as well as human retroviruses (HIV-1, HIV-2, human T-cell leukaemia virus type 1 [HTLV-1] and human T-cell leukaemia virus type 2 [HTLV-2]), were investigated in clinical specimens collected from DBS in Ghana.Results:A total of 305 consecutive DBS were collected. A high prevalence of chronic HBV (8.5%) and occult hepatitis B (14.2%) was found, whereas rates were lower for HIV-1, HTLV-1 and HCV (3.2%, 1.3% and 0.6%, respectively). HIV-2 and HTLV-2 were absent. CRF02_AG was the predominant HIV-1 subtype, whereas genotype E was the most frequent HBV variant.Conclusions:DBS are helpful in the diagnosis and virological characterization of hepatitis and retrovirus infections in resource-limited settings. The high rate of hepatitis B in Ghana, either overt or occult, is noteworthy and confirms recent findings from other sub-Saharan countries. This should encourage close clinical follow up and antiviral treatment assessment in this population, as well as universal HBV vaccine campaigns. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|