The Prevalence of Hepatitis Delta Virus in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B and Its Association with Risk Factors

Background: Hepatitis B infection is a serious health problem and two billion people worldwide are infected with the virus. The hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a satellite virus. Hepatitis D virus infection in HBsAg carriers can be present as a simultaneous and acute infection. Objectives: The aim of this study was toevaluate the frequency of HDVin patients with chronichepatitis B and itsassociation with risk factors. Methods: Inthisdescriptivestudy,74patientswithchronicHBVinfectionwereselectedfrompatientsthathadreferredtotheClin-icalLabof BloodTransfusionOrganization. AllpatientswerepositiveforHBsAgformorethansixmonthsandanti-HBc. Allsamples werenegativeforHIVandHCV.Ananti-HDVtestwasperformedonHBsAg-positivespecimensbytheenzymelinkedimmunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Also, HBV-real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was done to determine the viral load. Results: In this study, 74 HBsAg positive patients with a mean age of 50.22 ± 15.09 years were studied. Five (6.8%) patients had anti-HDV antibodies. Furthermore, 60% of the patients with HDV had risk factors, such as addiction, family history of hepatitis B, and a history of surgery. Maximal viral load in plasma samples of patients with anti-HDV antibodies, 531 IU/mL, was determined. Conclusions: For prevention of HDV transmission, all patients of chronic hepatitis B with low-level viral load should be evaluated for hepatitis D infection. Also, for determining the relationship between HDV infections with its risk factors, another study with a larger sample size should be performed.