Total of 170 samples were collected from Al-Chibayish Marsh reality in Dhi-Qar governorate southern of Iraq to study the epidemology of viral hepatitis in these areas and to detect the type of hepatitis viruses which include A ,B,C,D .The percentage of hepatitis A was 1.17% and most of them below age of ?10 (66.6%) while infection with hepatitis B account 5.29% and includes all age groups. There was no detected cases of hepatitis C,D. The laboratory study showed that the incidence of hepatitis B higher in male (4.11%) compared to female ( 2.35%)

Background: Infection with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease, WHO estimated that about 170 million people are infected with Hepatitic C virus, Silymarin (Legalon) have been recently shown to be effective in treatment of Hepatitic C virus infection.
Objectives: The effectiveness of Legalon (Silymarin) on viral load in patients with Hepatitic C virus infection.
Patients and methods: A prospective case – control study included 400 patients with Hepatitis C virus infection. 200 patients (group A) were treated with (peg-interferon, ribavirin, silymarin) the other 200 patients (group B) were treated with (peg-interferon, ribavirin) . only G1 & G4 genotypes were included , viral load were assessed ini

The relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus and Helicobacter pylori infection was evaluated to determine, seventy five patients with chronic hepatitis B infection (8-70 years) were investigated. The results were compared with the results of 50 healthy volunteers. Anti-H. pylori antibodies IgA and IgG were measured by Indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) in sera of patients and healthy groups. The percentage of anti-H.pylori IgA antibodies (26.67%) were significantly (P<0.01) higher than healthy control group. While, no significant difference was found between the percentages of anti-H. pylori IgG antibodies (48 %) in patient sera and these kind of antibodies in sera of healthy control group (P > 0.05). The present results indica

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection is associated with broad spectrum of clinical manifestationsdepending on the immune status of the host, To analyze their possible role in the complication ofautoimmune hepatitis, we investigated (30) female patients with autoimmune hepatitis type-1 of(10-40)years and 25 healthy female of same ages(control groups). Both groups were carried outto measure the levels of EBV-CA IgM, IgG Ab, EBV-EA IgM, IgG Ab, and EBV-NA IgM, IgGAb using indirect immunoflourescent assay (IFAT).The prevalence of EBV-CA IgM, IgG Ab were(10%,20%) and EBV-EA IgM, IgG Ab were (10% and20%) respectively, while the prevalence ofEBV-NA IgG Ab was( 3.33%) and there are no prevalence of EBV-NA IgM Ab. There weresignificant differences (P

Background: Immunoassays are one of the oldest techniques used in diagnostic virology where a number of serologic techniques, with different degrees of sensitivity and specificity, for the detection of HCV antigens and their specific antibodies, have been developed.
Materials and methods: One hundred and four sera samples were collected from National Center for Blood Transfusion, Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Hospital, Central Public Health Laboratories and Teaching Laboratories. According to the manufacturers practical instructions, many available methods for detecting Anti-HCV antibodies, including enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunochromatographic assay (ICA), recombinant immunoblot

This study has been carried out to evaluate the expression level of beta 2 microglobulin gene on patients infected by hepatitis C virus before and after treatment with interferon. The study included 117 hepatitis C patients comprising as 63 pre-treated patients, the range of age was between 20-65 year with a mean age of 48.12 ± 16.1 and 54 post-treated patients with age range was between 23-63 year with the mean of 46.1 ± 18.1. Also it was found that more than half of patients were located within third and fourth decade i.e. 30-49 year, with a percentage of 52.4% and 55.6 % for pre-treatment and post-treatment patients respectively. Moreover , regarding both groups, males are more than females with the ratio of ( 3.2:1) among p

Background: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an unresolving inflammation of the liver of unknown cause associated with interface hepatitis on histological examination,hypergammaglobulinemia and presence of circulating autoantibodies. Antibody-mediated tissue injury might be responsible for tissue injury in AIH therefore; a number of studies have been focused on the immunoglobulines in these patients .The aim of the study is to estimate the level of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA and IgM ) in different types of Autoimmune hepatitis ( AIH).
Patients and Methods: The study was performed on 73 Iraqi patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), attending the teaching hospital for gastroenterology and liver disease in a p

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that results in a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks flexible (synovial) joints. Many cases are believed to result from an interaction between genetic factors and environmental exposures. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with several autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and multip

Background: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a common health problem that has a worldwide distribution. Apart from the direct effect of the virus on the liver, there are many extrahepatic manifestations among which the probable effect on bone turnover associated with low bone mineral density (BMD). Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between treated and untreated chronic HBV infection with BMD. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which included a total of 48 patients with chronic HBV (28 patients treated with tenofovir-disoproxil-fumarate [TDF] antiviral drug and 20 patients have not yet started treatment). Other age- and sex-matched 30 apparently healthy individuals were recruited to represent the hea