(1) Background: Hepatitis B core antibodies (anti-HBc) are a marker of hepatitis B virus (HBV) exposure; hence, a normal HBV serology profile is characterized by HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HBc positivity. However, atypical HBV serologies occur, and we aimed to determine the prevalence of an atypical profile (HBsAg+/anti-HBc-) in a cohort of people with HIV-1 (PWH) in Botswana. (2) Methods: Plasma samples from an HIV-1 cohort in Botswana (2013-2018) were used. The samples were screened for HBsAg and anti-HBc. Next-generation sequencing was performed using the GridION platform. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Chi-squared tests were used for the comparison of continuous and categorical variables, respectively. (3) Results: HBsAg+/anti-HBc- prevalence was 13.7% (95% CI 10.1-18.4) (36/263). HBsAg+/anti-HBc- participants were significantly younger (p < 0.001), female (p = 0.02) and ART-naïve (p = 0.04) and had a detectable HIV viral load (p = 0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in the number of mutations observed in participants with HBsAg+/anti-HBc- vs. those with HBsAg+/anti-HBc+ serology. (4) Conclusions: We report a high HBsAg+/anti-HBc- atypical serology profile prevalence among PWH in Botswana. We caution against HBV-testing algorithms that consider only anti-HBc+ samples for HBsAg testing, as they are likely to underestimate HBV prevalence. Studies to elucidate the mechanisms and implications of this profile are warranted.
Pubmed ID: 37515230 RIS Download
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NIH genetic sequence database that provides annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences for almost 280 000 formally described species (Jan 2014) .These sequences are obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole-genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and GenBank staff assigns accession numbers upon data receipt. It is part of International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration and daily data exchange with European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through NCBI Entrez retrieval system, which integrates data from major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bimonthly releases and daily updates of GenBank database are available by FTP.
View all literature mentionsSoftware for aligning viewing and editing dna / aminiacid sequences, intuitive, fast and leightweight. It has been designed to meet the requirements of next generation sequencing era phylogenetic datasets.
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