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Background and Aim:  Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is characterized as a form of hepatitis in which, despite the absence of detectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV–DNA) is present in a patient's peripheral blood. Investigators believe that divergent genetics and immunological parameters vary between resistant individuals and patients with OBI. Vitamin D3 and its known receptor appear to be involved in antiviral immune responses. Therefore, because OBI is a form of viral infection, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between polymorphisms in intron 8 and exon 9 of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) with OBI.

Methods:  In this experimental study, the plasma samples of 3700 blood donors were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti‐HBs using ELISA. The HBsAg^–/anti‐HBc⁺ samples were selected and screened for HBV–DNA using polymerase chain reaction …