Hepatitis B infection of the liver in chronic hepatitis C without detectable hepatitis B virus DNA in serum.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA may persist in the liver in the absence of serum HBV-DNA after a self-limited acute hepatitis B. This may also occur in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection but its prevalence and its impact on liver histology is unknown. HBV-DNA was tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by in situ hybridisation in liver biopsies from 98 patients with chronic hepatitis C who were hepatitis B surface antigen negative and serum HBV-DNA negative by PCR.