Evidence of occult hepatitis B virus infection among Omani blood donors: a preliminary study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antibodies (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA among a selected group of Omani blood donors.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred HBsAg-negative donors were screened for anti-HBc. Those found to be positive were investigated for HBV DNA by polymerase chain reaction.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in Oman: antiretroviral therapy and frequencies of drug resistance mutations.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), consisting mainly of two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and one protease inhibitor (PI), is offered to < 10% of HIV-infected subjects in Oman. The aims of the present study were to determine the frequency of resistance-associated mutations in these patients, and to assess the contribution of drug resistance to treatment outcome. Among 29 patients on HAART for > or =6 months, virological, failure was observed in 27 (93%).

Awareness of hepatitis B virus among undergraduate medical and non-medical students.

Objective: To investigate the awareness of Omani medical and non-medical students of hepatitis-B virus (HBV) infection.

Methods: A structured questionnaire of 31 different statements concerning basic knowledge of HBV, its modes of transmission, diagnosis, risk behaviors, prevention, treatment, beliefs as well as attitudes towards patients with HBV infection were distributed to 280 students (154 females and 126 males). Of these 138 were pre-clinical medical students and 142 were non-medical students.

Laboratory diagnosis of viral hepatitis C: The Sultan Qaboos University Hospital experience.

Objectives: A retrospective study was carried out to assess the performance of hepatitis C diagnostic assays in our laboratory, and to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C among blood donors at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.

Methods: From 1991 to 2001, approximately 55,000 serum samples collected from blood donors and patients were submitted to our laboratory for testing. All sera were screened for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) by three successive generations of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Fluctuating antibody response in a cohort of hepatitis C patients.

Objective: This project was designed to longitudinally study persons who had antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) to characterise the serologic course of infection.

Methods: The subjects were 149 multitransfused patients (141 with thalassaemia major, 3 with thalassaemia intermedia, and 5 with sickle cell anaemia) who had been regularly followed up for 3 to 7 years. Sequential serum samples obtained semi-annually between January 1994 and January 2001 were tested, prospectively, by second or third generation HCV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), followed by confirmatory recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2 or RIBA-3).