HEPATITIS A VIRUS (HAV) is a major cause of waterborne HEPATITIS worldwide especially in tropical and subtropical regions (1, 2). HAV is found in the stool of the patients contaminated with HEPATITIS AVIRUS and is usually transmitted from person to person through HAV contaminated water and foodstuff (1-4). Therefore, HAV can spread under bad sanitary conditions and also when there is no good personal hygiene (2-4)…

HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) infection has been shown to induce several extra-hepatic lesions, especially through deposition of immune complexes in different organs, and renal involvement is one of the most important of them. The association between chronic HBV infection and glomerular diseases was first described by Combes et al. in 1971, and since then, overwhelming observations have been reported in the literature by authors from all over the world. HBV-related nephropathy is one of the HBV infection manifestations that has provoked high sensitivities around the world, most especially in terms of the management and treatment of the infection and the renal involvement. In this literature review, we tried to address all important issues related to HBV associated nephropathies.

Dear Editor, I read with interest the recently published article by Shadmand et al. (1) in your Journal. The authors presented the epidemiology of HEPATITIS E and D infections among human immune defi ciency VIRUS (HIV)-infected and HIV/HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV)-co-infected patients. They concluded that two (2. 7%) cases were positive for antiHEPATITIS D VIRUS (HDV) total antibody and one (1. 4%) case was positive for anti-HDV IgM antibody. I would like to highlight some points about the prevalence of HDV infection in this study population...

Background: More than 170 million people in the world are infected with HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV). Determination of HCV genotype before starting the treatment is required, because HCV genotype affects the course of treatment and drug dosage.Objectives: We aimed to evaluate HCV genotypes among patients with positive results for anti-HCV in Bandar Abbas from 2011 to 2012.Patients and Methods: Five hundred and nine consecutive patients with established chronic HCV infection referred to Behavioral Diseases Consultation Center, Blood Transfusion and Center for Special Diseases from March 2011 to March 2012 were enrolled in this cross sectional study. Five mL of peripheral blood was taken from precipitants and viral RNA extracted after plasma separation. HEPATITIS C VIRUS RNA was detected by reverse transcriptase-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nested PCR) assay and then HCV genotypes analyzed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method.Results: In overall, 509 patients enrolled to this study. The mean age of these patients was 38.87 ± 9.55 years ranging from 1 to 90 years. Routs of transmission were: 238 (46.7%) inject of substance, 149 (29.3%) unknown rout, 62 (12.2%) blood transfusion, 50 (9.8%) sexual contact, and 10 (2%) mother to child. Frequency of HCV genotypes were: 316 (62.1%) 1a, 117 (23%) 1b, and 76 (14.9%) 3a. there was no significant association between HCV genotypes and gender, educational degree, risk factor of HEPATITIS C, job, monthly income, HIV infection, HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) infection, Intravenous drug injection, and underlying disease (P>0.05).Conclusions: This results the same as many similar studies demonstrated that common HCV genotypes in Iranian patients were 1a, 3a and 1b, respectively. Patients with 1a and 1b genotypes have lower responses to interferon treatment, and it is reasonable to perform early screening to diagnose and determine HCV genotype for effective treatment and diagnose high-risk cases.

Background and Aims: Many studies have provided evidence for the role of HEPATITIS B and C VIRUSes in the development of liver cancer. Although the routine treatment is available for both conditions, no definite guideline is available to treat patients dually infected with HBV and HCV. This study was performed to determine the frequency of HBV/HCV-coinfection in Mashhad, North-East of Iran.Materials and Methods: In our previous study, 3198 participants were chosen for study of HBV infection from March 2010 to November 2011 in Mashhad, Iran. ELISA method was used to determine the existence of anti-HCV antibody among HBV infected cases.Results: Of 34 HBsAg positive participants that included equal number of men and women (17 subjects of each gender) with the mean age of 49.9 years, none were positive for anti-HCV antibody.Conclusion: According to the current study, it could be concluded that the prevalence of HBV/HCV coinfection is low in Mashhad. However, since occult HBV infection may go unnoticed by conventional HBsAg testing, high sensitive molecular techniques are required to investigate the presence of dual infection.