The chemical change from hydrogen gas that diffuses into silica glass for optical fibres to hydroxyl function has been investigated. Hydrogen molecules that diffuse into GeO2-doped silica glass at 500°C easily change into OH ions by thermal energy, while this chemical change does not occur in pure silica glass at 500°C. Also, germanium-doped silica fibre, in which hydrogen gas is dissolved at room temperature, shows OH ion absorption loss increase with chemical change by heat treatment at above 100°C, while pure silica core fibre shows no OH ion absorption loss increase by the same treatment.