Hepatitis <scp>B</scp> virus nucleic acid amplification testing of <scp>A</scp>ustralian blood donors highlights the complexity of confirming occult hepatitis B virus infection

Abstract

This study demonstrated a substantially higher prevalence of OBI compared to acute serologic window period HBV infections in Australian blood donors. Follow-up testing of OBI cases indicates that HBV DNA is often only intermittently detectable in OBI, highlighting the importance of including anti-HBc to optimize the HBV testing algorithm.