Certain bacterial and viral infectious agents may play a role in the activation of inflammation in atherosclerosis lesions. Epidemiological studies indicate that infectious agents may predispose patients to atherosclerosis as Infections have been associated with an increased risk of this disease. Moreover, a positive antibody status has been detected against some infectious organisms associated with atherosclerotic rupture. Infectious agents found in human atheroma, which may directly cause or accelerate atherosclerosis , include many pathogens but the present study focused on Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B virus surface antigen and C. In order to evaluate the possible association between H. pylori, HBV, and HCV infections and the risk of

Background: five clinical phases were described in patients with chronic (HBV) infection: HBeAg- positive HBV infection, HBeAg- positive chronic HB, HBeAg negative HBV infection, HBeAg-negative CHB and occult HBV infection. Aim: This study aimed to determine the incidence of the unclassified phase (gray zone) in chronic hepatitis B patients and its significant in the clinical practice. Patients and methods: The study was conducted retrospectively on 109 patients' who have HBsAg positive for more than 6 months. The data recorded include; HbeAg and anti-HBe Ab, ultrasound of the abdomen, HBV DNA load and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), accordingly; we classify the patients to known clinical phases. Patients who were unfit one of these phases

Abstract: The present study aimed to evaluate calcium, potassium, albumin, protein, creatinine, urea, uric acid levels, and the level of total sialic acid in the sera of patients with chronic renal failure who had been infected with Hepatitis C virus and in the sera of patients with chronic renal failure, and compare them with healthy volunteers. A total of 90 subjects with age 25-55 years, were divided into three groups. G1 represents 30 patients with chronic renal failure who had treated by dialysis and infected with chronic Hepatitis C virus (positive group). G2 represents 30 patients with chronic failure who had been treated by dialysis (negative group), while G3 represents 30 healthy volunteers (control group). The results showed

    Hepatitis-B (HBV) is a viral disease cause liver damage, cirrhosis, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Present study attempted to elucidate the biochemical and haematological markers other than Australia antigen, of hepatitis,B,vairusV (HBsAg) for better assessment of HBV infection.  The present study was conducted on 76 men, 50 of them were found to be HBeAg positive and 26 were negative, mean age was53±5.7years. Haematological parameters such as Absolute  Erythrocyte( Abs  Eryt), Absolute Leukocyte(Abs Leuk) , Haemoglobin(Hb), Packed Cell Volume(PCV),Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW), Mean  Corpuscular  Haemoglobin (MCH),MCH Concentration(MCHC) ,Neutrophi

Background: ;Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease. Approximately 85% of patients acutely infected with HCV progress to chronic liver disease with persistence of HCV-RNA for more than 6 months Among patients with chronic HCV infection , 15-20% progress to end-stage liver disease main transmission methods of the virus is by : blood and blood products ; sharing needles and acupuncture .Objective: To evaluate Iraqi patients infected with chronic HCV, including their treatment, and factors that affect their response to treatment .Methods :This study was performed at Gastroenterology and Hepatology hospital in Baghdad from January 2011 to March 2012.The study enrolled 90 patients with HCV Antibody positive (Ab +ve)

Two groups of chronic hepatitis B and C virus patients were divided into Pre-treated patients (25 CHB patients with positive HBs Ag for more than 6 months and 40 CHC patients), and post-treated patients [12 CHB patients (4, 6, and 2 were treated with lamivudine, IFN-? and combination of LMV + IFN-? respectively), and 27 patients for CHC (3, 13 and 11 patients were treated with Ribavirin, IFN-? and combination therapy (RBV+ IFN-?) respectively].These patients were followed up for 6 months. By using ELISA technique, levels of IL-6, IL-10, IFN-? and TNF-? were measured in vivo and in vitro (supernatant of PBMCs stimulated with PHA) and compared with healthy control. The mean level of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-? in CHB patients showed significant dif

Background: Measuring the concentration of hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) in HBV patients can be determined with immunoassay techniques. This study aimed to measure the HbsAg titers in chronic HBV patients and to assess its correlation with patients' ages, gender, and with the levels of liver enzymes and total serum bilirubin. Materials and Method: Fifty-eight chronic hepatitis B infected patients were enrolled in this study. Age and gender of the patients were recorded. HbsAg concentration was tested with automated Immunoanalyzer. The patients were also tested for ALT, AST, ALP, and TSB by automated chemistry analyzer. Results: All the chronic HBV patients have positive HBsAg titers above the negative cutoff (0.05U/L) with mea

Background Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) combination therapies from various mechanisms of action and families have been revolutionized the management landscape of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Ombitasvir, paritaprevir with ritonavir (OBV/PTV/r) ± ribavirin (RBV) is approved to treat HCV genotype 4 (GT4) infection. Here, our objective was to delineate the efficacy and safety of OBV/PTV/r plus RBV in treating of Egyptian naïve patients infected with HCV GT4.

Methods a cohort of 100 Egyptian patients infected with HCV GT4 was allocated and administered orally OBV/PTV/r with RBV. The primary endpoint of our study was a sustained virological response (HCV RNA < 12 IU/mL) 12 weeks after the c

Objective(s): To measure serum C-reactive protein (CRP) titer as a predictive diagnosis of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection.
Methodology: Two hundred and ten patients with acute HCV infection and 234 apparently healthy individuals as
control group were enrolled in this study in Baghdad medical city (Teaching Laboratories). The patents include
74(35.2%) females and 136 (64.8%) males with mean age (27±16.5) years. The control group includes 114 (48.7%)
females and 120 (51.3%) males with mean age (26±5.8) years. Blood samples were collected from out patients from
Alfadul in Baghdad city. Sera were separated and stored at 20 0
C. The diagnosis of acute HCV infection was based on
detection of HC Ag and anti- H

Background and objective: Viral Hepatitis Type B&C is serious public health challenge throughout the world.Hepatitis B and C viruses still remain to be the major causes of chronic hepatitis.It is estimated that around 350-400 million people in the world are chronic carriers of HBV, which represents approximately 7% of the total populationwhereas infection with HCV is found in approximately 3% of the world population, which represents 160 million people. Hepatitis B infection has a wide range of seroprevalence in the Mediterranean countries ranging from intermediate (=>2% ) to high prevalence ( =>7%). World Health Organization estimated a prevalence rate for HCV infection of about 4.6% in Eastern Mediterranean in 1999. During the eightieths