Clinical significance of "anti-HBc alone" in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients.

Aim: To determine the prevalence and clinical relevance of isolated antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen as the only marker of infection ("anti-HBc alone") among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type-1 infected patients. Occult hepatitis B infection frequency was also evaluated.

Methods: Three hundred and forty eight histories from 2388 HIV-positive patients were randomly reviewed.