Assessment of HBV persistent infection in an adult population in Taiwan

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Abstract
In order to study the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the adult population of Taiwan, we screened for the presence of HBV DNA in 205 blood samples from adult (20–59‐year‐old) volunteers. According to the serological markers of HBV, samples were divided into three groups: group I (173 subjects) was negative for both HBsAg and HBeAg; group II (14 subjects) was positive for both HBsAg and HBeAg; and group III consisted of 18 subjects who were HBsAg‐positive but HBeAg‐negative. Plasma HBV DNA was not detected in group I, but it was found in 85.7% and 11.8% of samples in group II and group III, respectively. A free‐form HBV DNA was found in 14.3% of the leukocyte samples in group II. Furthermore, an integrated form of HBV DNA was detected in the leukocytes of two cases of group I who remained healthy based on clinical data. HBV DNA was also detected in the spermatozoa and liver cells of one of the cases.