Occult Hepatitis B infection (OBI) a hidden threat for blood/organ donation & immunosuppression: An update

Hepatitis B infection is still a significant public health problem.After the incorporation of the hepatitis B vaccine into the universal immunization program, the prevalence of hepatitis B infection declined dramatically in the post-vaccination era.In the developing countries due to lack of expensive screening before blood/organ donation & immunosuppressive therapy occult hepatitis-B infection(OBI) remains as an occult threat for transmission or reactivation of hepatitis-B infection ultimately leading to progressive liver disease Nucleic acid testing (NAT) should be implemented for detection of OBI-HBV DNA, when highly sensitive NAT testing not able to performed, anti-HBc could be used as a possible surrogate marker for identifying potential OBI.