HBV is a liver illness caused by the hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B is spread when virus-infected blood, sperm, or other bodily fluids enter the body of an uninfected person. Sexual contact, sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment, or transmitting needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment from mother to newborn are all scenarios that might occur.
Not everyone who becomes infected with HBV develops symptoms, but those who do may feel fatigue, lack of appetite, stomach discomfort, nausea, and jaundice. Symptoms are variable and include yellowing of the eyes, abdominal pain and dark urine. Some people, particularly children, don't experience any symptoms. In chronic cases, liver failure, cancer or scarring can occur. For many people, hepatitis B is a transient infection. Others may acquire a long-term, chronic infection, which can lead to significant, even life-threatening health conditions including cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The PCR technology also useful for HBV genotyping and drug resistance, to decide the treatment suitability in infected patients. Sample type required for this test is EDTA plasma or serum. Although the diagnosis of acute and chronic HBV infection is usually made by serologic methods, detection and quantification of HBV DNA by RT-PCR are useful to:
· Diagnose some cases of early acute HBV infection.
· Distinguish active from inactive HBV infection.
· Monitor a patient's response to anti-HBV therapy.
GeneOmbio has in-house developed assays for HBV viral load monitoring drug resistance analysis. Real time PCR test helps to assess the progression of the Hepatitis B virus disease. It also helps to monitor the efficacy of treatment undergoing for the Hepatitis B virus. This test uses Real Time PCR method. The main advantages of PCR are its extreme sensitivity and rapid using florescent labeled probes. Viral load is usually measured using international units per milliliter (IU/mL). However, in the past it was measured in copies per milliliter (copies/mL).