THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Sweat may transmit hepatitis B virus (HBV) during contact sports like wrestling, according to a report in the March issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. In the study, 11 percent of Olympic wrestlers from Turkey who were negative for hepatitis B on antibody tests had detectable levels of viral DNA in blood and sweat by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Selda Bereket-Yücel, of Celal Bayar University in Turkey, investigated the prevalence of HBV and occult-HBV in 70 male Olympic wrestlers and examined the relationship between HBV DNA levels in blood and sweat.
A standard monoclonal antibody-based test did not detect any hepatitis B surface antigen in any of the wrestlers. However, real time PCR analysis detected occult HBV infection in 13 percent of the wrestlers and HBV DNA in the sweat of 11 percent of the wrestlers. HBV DNA levels in blood and sweat correlated significantly.
"According to the results of this study, an HBV test should be done and wrestlers should be vaccinated at the start of their wrestling career," the author writes. "Clinicians and staff of athletic programs should aggressively promote HBV immunization. The advice of sports organizations should be changed, making HBV immunization obligatory for contact sports."
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