International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research
Abstract
The discovery of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among long-tailed macaques from Mauritus Island in 2013 is a new finding that showed HBV could infect non-human primate family Cercopithecidae. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of Hepadnavirus among Macaca fascicularis that are living outside of their natural habitat in Indonesia. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) screening test was performed on 95 plasma and serum samples collected from the different sources captivity, confiscated long-tailed macaques, and performance monkey. DNA detection was carried out on seropositive samples to HBsAg. Screening test showed that 11 of 95 (11.6%) samples were reactive to HBsAg. Prevalence of HBsAg is higher in confiscated animals and performance monkey (55%) compared with captive M. fascicularis (45%). However, no HBV DNA could be detected in HBsAg samples that were tested. HBsAg positive result indicate that the long-tailed macaques could be infected by hepatitis B virus naturally, although HBV DNA could not be detected in this study
