EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL OUTCOME OF HEPATITIS-D VIRUS-INFECTION IN TURKEY

BALIK İ., ONUL M., TEKELI E., CAREDDA F.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, vol.7, no.1, pp.48-54, 1991 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 7 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 1991
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/bf00221341
  • Journal Name: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.48-54
  • Keywords: HDV EPIDEMIOLOGY, HDV INFECTION, DELTA HEPATITIS
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The prevalence, the epidemiology, the clinical and biochemical characteristics of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection were studied in patients with HBsAg-positive acute hepatitis, in those with chronic liver disease, and in apparently healthy carriers in Turkey. Fifty-eight of the 242 carriers of HBsAg (23.9%) and 31 of the 237 (13.1%) patients with acute HBsAg-positive hepatitis had serological evidence of HDV infection. Eleven of these individuals were HBsAg carriers with acute HDV superinfection. The prevalence of HDV infection was significantly (p < 0.001) higher in patients with chronic liver disease (54/165; 32.7%) than in asymptomatic carriers of HBsAg (4/77; 5.2%). The highest prevalence (26/57; 45.6%) of HDV infection was found in patients at high risk of acquiring hepatitis virus infection (health care workers, hemodialysis patients, polytransfused patients) with chronic liver disease.