Abstract

Objective: First, to investigate the prevalence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and occult HBV infection (OC-HBV) in Turkish Olympic wrestlers. Second, to examine the relationship between HBV DNA values in sweat and blood.

Methods: A total of 70 male Olympic wrestlers were recruited as the study sample.

Results: As a result of the standard monoclonal antibody based hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) detection, none of the Olympic wrestlers carried HBsAg in this study. On the other hand, according to real time PCR for serum HBV DNA detection in this study, 9 (13%) of the wrestlers had OC-HBV infection. Eight (11%) of the participants had HBV DNA in their sweat. In addition, there was a significant relationship between HBV DNA values in the blood and sweat of the wrestlers (r = 0.52, p<0.01).

Conclusions: In addition to bleeding wounds and mucous membranes, sweating may be another way of transmitting HBV infections in contact sports. An HBV test should be done and each wrestler should be vaccinated at the start of his career.