{"doi":"10.3390/v15071544","title":"Atypical Hepatitis B Virus Serology Profile—Hepatitis B Surface Antigen-Positive/Hepatitis B Core Antibody-Negative—In Hepatitis B Virus/HIV Coinfected Individuals in Botswana","abstract":"(1) Background: Hepatitis B core antibodies (anti-HBc) are a marker of hepatitis B virus (HBV) exposure; hence, a normal HBV serology profile is characterized by HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HBc positivity. However, atypical HBV serologies occur, and we aimed to determine the prevalence of an atypical profile (HBsAg+/anti-HBc-) in a cohort of people with HIV-1 (PWH) in Botswana. (2) Methods: Plasma samples from an HIV-1 cohort in Botswana (2013–2018) were used. The samples were screened for HBsAg and anti-HBc. Next-generation sequencing was performed using the GridION platform. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Chi-squared tests were used for the comparison of continuous and categorical variables, respectively. (3) Results: HBsAg+/anti-HBc- prevalence was 13.7% (95% CI 10.1–18.4) (36/263). HBsAg+/anti-HBc- participants were significantly younger (p < 0.001), female (p = 0.02) and ART-naïve (p = 0.04) and had a detectable HIV viral load (p = 0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in the number of mutations observed in participants with HBsAg+/anti-HBc- vs. those with HBsAg+/anti-HBc+ serology. (4) Conclusions: We report a high HBsAg+/anti-HBc- atypical serology profile prevalence among PWH in Botswana. We caution against HBV-testing algorithms that consider only anti-HBc+ samples for HBsAg testing, as they are likely to underestimate HBV prevalence. Studies to elucidate the mechanisms and implications of this profile are warranted.","journal":"Viruses","year":2023,"id":351406,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9633,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":425976,"name":"Motswedi Anderson","orcid":"0000-0001-9974-9684","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":828773,"name":"Margaret Mokomane","orcid":"0000-0002-4406-3594","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":940997,"name":"Irene Gobe","orcid":"0000-0003-3679-6509","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425978,"name":"Wonderful T. Choga","orcid":"0000-0001-7606-0569","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096090,"name":"Tsholofelo Ratsoma","orcid":"0009-0006-9815-9088","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096091,"name":"Basetsana Phakedi","orcid":"0009-0005-9029-6427","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1068192,"name":"Gorata Mpebe","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":941552,"name":"Doreen Ditshwanelo","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425980,"name":"Rosemary Musonda","orcid":"0009-0009-9937-6908","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393322,"name":"Joseph Makhema","orcid":"0000-0003-0017-2438","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425983,"name":"Sikhulile Moyo","orcid":"0000-0003-3821-4592","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425985,"name":"Simani Gaseitsiwe","orcid":"0000-0002-7089-3735","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425975,"name":"Bonolo B. Phinius","orcid":"0000-0002-0180-2705","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":38,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:12:41.740237Z","pmid":"37515230","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}