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Fulminant hepatitis B following bone marrow transplantation in an HBsAg-negative, HBsAb-positive recipient; reactivation of dormant virus during the immunosuppressive period

Abstract

It is widely accepted that seroconversion of HBsAg to HBsAb indicates clearance of hepatitis B virus. We describe a 50-year-old man with chronic myelocytic leukemia who developed lethal hepatitis B 22 months after allo-BMT. He had been negative for HBsAg and positive for HBsAb before BMT. Hepatitis B virus latently existing in the liver cells before BMT proliferated during the immunosuppressed period causing fatal hepatitis. Recipients with positive HBsAb should be considered to have the potential for active hepatitis B to emerge after BMT. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2000) 25, 105–108.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Y Morishima, Dr H Sao and Dr K Kitaori for their BMT procedure.

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Iwai, K., Tashi, M., Itoh, M. et al. Fulminant hepatitis B following bone marrow transplantation in an HBsAg-negative, HBsAb-positive recipient; reactivation of dormant virus during the immunosuppressive period. Bone Marrow Transplant 25, 105–108 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1702093

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