Intestinal Research

: Nonimmunity against hepatitis B virus infection in patients newly diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease

: This issue chosen by the Editor of Intestinal Research is a population based case-control study of the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) serologic markers in patients who were newly diagnosed with treatment-naïve IBD performed using registry of Crohn’s and Colitis Association in Daegu-Gyeongbuk district of Korea. This study reported a 3.8% HBs-Ag-positivity rate and a 30.0% anti-HBc-positivity rate in Korean patients newly diagnosed with IBD. In this study, the prevalence of chronic HBV infection (positive HBsAg, positive anti-HBc, and negative anti-HBs results) and past infection (negative HBsAg, positive anti-HBc, and positive or negative anti-HBs results) were similar between IBD patients and healthy control. Nonimmunity against HBV infection (negative HBsAg and negative anti-HBc results and anti-HBs level of <10 mIU/mL) was higher in IBD patients compared with healthy control (P<0.001). The IBD patients with the age of <20 years at the time of diagnosis and symptom duration of ≥ 12 months before diagnosis were at a higher susceptibility risk for nonimmunity against HBV infection. Read more about viral hepatitis infectionin in IBD. In addition to this article, read other articles and guideline about the opportunistic infections in IBD. Best regards,