Gastroenterology & Hepatology

MOLECULAR SCREENING FOR HEPATITIS VIRUS

HBV can cause acute and chronic infection. There is currently no role for molecular testing in the diagnosis of acute hepatitis B other than in the detection of asymptomatic patients during pretransfusion screening of blood products. To facilitate an understanding of the utility of molecular testing for chronic hepatitis B, the four stages of chronic hepatitis B infection that are currently recognized, as well as an additional entity, occult hepatitis B, that can be diagnosed only by sensitive nucleic acid amplification methods, are reviewed in detail, including available therapeutic age.